The Android's Pain
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: An accident cast him into the wrong world. A world where he was dead. His memories are gone, his body is a machine, and he doesn't know who he is or where he belongs again. But maybe this time, he won't have to find out alone. Maybe there are others who can help him this time. Most likely ShadowXHarem
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

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Bad Dreams

He was falling. Tumbling. Things passed by him. Clocks, faces, doors, windows. They were twisting, distorting, and spiraling around him as they passed. He got the feeling of being in some kind of tunnel. And there was light. Streaks of bright white lights shot past him, streaks of light blue going in the other direction. His head began to spin, and he felt like he might vomit. And then he was staring at himself. Literally. He was standing, bent forward and swaying dangerously, his stomach rolling violently. And there, on the ground before him, was himself. The other him was covered in blood, and had bullet holes through most of his torso and his face, eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. And all around him were other people, faces he thought he recognized, staring between him and his dead doppelganger in confusion.

"Shadow?" a blue hedgehog asked. "How...How are you...What's going on?"

"I...I'm...Where...am I?" he asked, staggering to the side before collapsing beside his doppelganger.

Someone shouted in surprise, kneeling beside him, and he saw the blue hedgehog again, hearing his name again.

"Who...are you...people?" he asked, as darkness began to close in on him again, the blue hedgehog seeming to be backing away. "Where are you...going? Don't...leave me here...please."

Then, the darkness claimed him.

* * *

Shadow sat bolt upright, gasping for breath over and over, his lungs burning and seeming incapable of getting enough air. He clutched at his chest with one hand, and looked around the room, eyes wide with surprise. Slowly, he managed to calm himself, laying back down and resting his arm over his eyes.

"Damn it," Shadow growled. "That dream again. After all this time, I'd have thought I'd..."

He sighed, forcing himself back to sleep, only for his alarm to go off an hour later. He shut it off quickly getting ready for the day and putting on his shoes and gloves. Then, he left his home, running to the G.U.N. headquarters. Barely three steps into the room, Rouge met him with a smirk.

"You're here early," Rogue said. "Something bothering you?"

"Right now, you are," Shadow grunted, walking away from her, toward where several metal detectors were set up.

"You had the dream again, didn't you?" Rouge asked.

Shadow stopped, then sighed. "That obvious?"

"Every time you have it, you're in an especially foul mood, and you're here early," Rouge said.

"I see," Shadow said, continuing to walk. "I'll have to run slower from now on." He passed through the metal detector, which immediately went off, the guards glancing at him. "Air shoes, gold rings..." he paused, "hip and knee replacements."

The guard nodded, accepting his lie. Shadow pretended it wasn't. His shoes and rings didn't set off the sensors. And he hadn't had any joins replaced. He held a hand to his torso as he walked. He hated being what he was. He shouldn't be what he was. He knew it. And yet...

* * *

Shadow groaned, stirring and looking around, seeing the others that had been around him and his doppelganger all around him now, though he was strapped to a metal table.

"What's going on?" Shadow asked. "What are...who are you all? What do you want from me?"

The others all looked around at each other before a fox with two tails stepped forward nervously. "What...are you?"

"What are you taking about?" Shadow asked. "I'm a hedgehog."

The fox reached up, undoing one of the straps, this one holding Shadow's head from being lifted, and Shadow instantly lifted it, following the fox's line of sight down to his body. His brow furrowed in confusion. He didn't see anything wrong with his body. His fir was a bit dirty and messy, but it wasn't missing anywhere, his skin wasn't marked by any injuries or deformities, and the seams connecting his body's segments weren't damaged at all. He looked to the fox in confusion.

"What?" Shadow asked.

"You're...not a hedgehog, are you?" the fox asked. "Not really. You...you're an android. Right?"

"An android?" Shadow asked.

"You're not a real animal," the blue hedgehog spoke up. "Your body is segmented like a robot, but we're not like you. We have organic bodies. See?" He held out his arms. "No seams."

Shadow stared at him, then took in the others. He was right. But then, if Shadow wasn't a Hedgehog, what was he? Wasn't it normal to be segmented? Hadn't he always been?

"I'm...not a Hedgehog?" Shadow asked.

"I scanned your body as well," the fox said. "Your skeleton...it's partly mechanical. But it's not like anything I've seen. It's like...some kind of metal that's also organic. Like a sort of living metal. And your body is the same."

"I'm...I've...always been like this," Shadow said. "What about...the other me?"

"That one...that one was our friend," a white bat said, stepping forward, her body covered by a low-cut shirt and shorts. "He was organic, like us, but he died in a fight before we could finish it."

Shadow set his head back down, staring at the ceiling. "But I'm..."

He felt his eyes began to sting. He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember anything. Who was he? _What_ was he? Where was he from?

"What...am I?" Shadow asked, voice frail and cracking.

"We don't know," the fox said. "But, if you're willing to be patient, and work with us, we can help you find out."

Shadow nodded.

"I'm Tails," the fox said.

"Sonic," the blue hedgehog said.

"I'm Rouge," the bat introduced herself. "The last Shadow's partner."

"Amy," a small pink hedgehog said.

"Knuckles," a red echidna with a pair of spikes off of each of his hands where his knuckles shout be grunted.

"Silver," a grey-furred hedgehog said.

"I am designated E-123 Omega," a red robot with black highlights and yellow on top of its head said.

"I'm Shadow the...I'm...Shadow...just Shadow," Shadow said, turning his head to stare at the ceiling again, tears beginning to fall again.

* * *

Patience, as it turned out, was not one of his strong suits. He had run out within about a week, and began to actively try to avoid the others as much as he could. They weren't his friends. The looks they gave him told him that much. He wasn't _their_ Shadow. He was the thing that was trying to replace him. He was the monster. The freak. The thing to be ostracized. Only Rouge tried to be friendly toward him, but even then she wasn't always successful. She usually ended up annoying him even more than the others. Even more than Sonic, who was the bane of his existence.

"Seriously, Shadow, are you alright?" Rouge asked.

"I'm fine," Shadow growled. "I just...I just need some time to...finish waking up."

Rouge sighed, stepping in front of him, catching him by the shoulders. "You know I'm here to help, right? Whatever you need."

"Right now, I just need you to leave me alone," Shadow said, brushing her hands off and walking to the stairs, then pausing. "But...thank you. I really do appreciate it."

Rouge smiled and nodded, Shadow streaking up the stairs in a blur, heading to the training room where Omega was always more than happy to help Shadow keep his combat skills up.

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Fear

Shadow's left fist crashed into the side of Omega's head, sending him back one step. But when Shadow spun, swinging a windmill kick at Omega with his right foot, Omega's right hand snapped up, catching Shadow's leg before his heel could connect. Then, Omega's upper body spun in a complete clockwise circle, slamming Shadow to the ground and releasing him, sending him bouncing away. Shadow rolled to a stop and grit his teeth, pressing a fist to the ground.

Something was wrong. He should be stronger. He knew he was stronger than this. And yet, Omega was throwing him around easily. This was far from the first time that sparring match that he'd ended up on the ground. Omega, on the other than, had yet to go down once. It wasn't fair. He had to be stronger. He had to prove that he was real. That he was stronger than their Shadow. Better. He had to prove he wasn't just some replacement.

Crimson energy began to race over his body as his anger and self-loathing grew. He slowly pushed himself up groaning as pressure began to build up inside of himself, pounding in his head like a fist, beating down a door. Something was building in him, and it demanded to be released. He staggered backward as the pressure turned to pain, a splitting migraine growing rapidly. He clutched at his head, groaning louder. Omega was speaking, asking him if he was okay. Asking what was going on.

Annoyance flashed through Shadow. How the hell should he know what was going on? If he knew, wouldn't he have done something about it by now? Just how fucking stupid _was_ Omega?

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Was he really so stupid as to not be able to see Shadow was in pain, barely staying on his feet?

_Ba-bang! Ba-bang! Ba-bang!_

Shadow fell to the ground, folding forward and pressing his forehead to the ground, a strangled cry of pain forcing its way out of his mouth as the agony grew to an excruciating, all-consuming crescendo.

_BANG-BANG! ! ! BANG-BANG! ! ! BANG-BANG! ! ! BOOM! ! ! ! ! !_

An explosion rocked the building as the pressure suddenly exploded out of him in a massive wave of bloody energy, sending Omega exploding through the wall just before blasting through the walls of the room, the energy obliterating the floor of two levels of the building on the way down, and two more on the way up, fortunately not hurting anyone, besides Omega, though it _did_ erase the training room, a conference room downstairs, a lounge below that, a supply closet and hallway one level up, and a file storage room at the top.

Shadow lay in the demolished remains of the lounge, trembling from fear and the lasting pain of whatever had just happened, papers and manila folders fluttering down around him, hopelessly scattered and intermixed, most charred from the explosion. It was impossible. That had been a Chaos Blast. But he didn't have any Chaos Emeralds. He shouldn't be able to use Chaos Blasts without a Chaos Emerald. It wasn't possible. He didn't have that kind of power on his own.

"Shadow!" Sonic's voice shouted from above. "Don't move!"

Don't move? Was Sonic planning to arrest him? But why? It hadn't been intentional. What was Sonic even doing there? He hadn't meant to hurt Omega. He hadn't meant to damage the building. He didn't even know how he did it.

"Freeze!" one of G.U.N.'s soldiers shouted, several running in, aiming at Shadow.

"Wait!" Rouge shouted, running into the room. "Wait! Don't hurt him!"

"Stay back, Rouge!" Sonic ordered, stepping into the room. "He's dangerous!"

"He's scared!" Rouge snapped.

"He could explode again at any minute!" Sonic argued.

Why? Why was this happening? Why were the people who were supposed to be his friends and allies turning on him? Why couldn't anyone besides Rouge see how scared he was? But then, maybe they didn't care. After all, they weren't _his_ friends, were they? They were the _other_ Shadow's friends. He wasn't the right Shadow. He wasn't anything. He was just a time bomb, apparently. Fear flashed through him in an even bigger spike. He couldn't be a time bomb. He was alive. He was Shadow. Right?

"Rouge, get out of the way!" Sonic said. "We have to stop Shadow from hurting anyone else! He already blasted Omega!"

"Omega is fine!" Rouge snapped. "He's already repairing the damage!"

Guilt stabbed Shadow in the gut. He had hurt Omega. He couldn't stay. He might hurt the others. He might hurt his apparent _only_ friend, Rouge. He shoved himself up and blurred out of the building, wiping the fearful tears from his eyes as he fled, Rouge holding Sonic back to keep him from chasing Shadow until it was too late. Shadow sped away from the city, running for what felt like forever before finally slowing to a stop in a forest, icy rain pounding down around him, arms wrapped around his trembling body as he crawled under the roots of a partially-fallen tree. He curled into a ball, the fear, guilt, and pain finally getting the better of him, pulling tears from his eyes, and sobs from his chest.

He hated this. He wasn't supposed to cry. He was stronger than that. Crying was pathetic. And yet, the more he tried to regain control, the more impossible that task became. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone. He hadn't meant to destroy anything. He didn't even know how he did it. It had just happened. He couldn't control it.

"Shadow?" Rouge's voice called. "Shadow!" She stopped as she found him, eyes widening slowly before she knelt, sighing. "Found you. Are you alright?"

"What am I?" Shadow asked, voice as broken and frail as he felt.

"You are Shadow the Hedgehog," Rouge said. "You're my friend. And maybe you're not the same Shadow the Hedgehog that we were friends with before, but that one's gone, and you're here. I know you're scared, but I'm not going to hurt you. I'm your friend, Shadow. I want to help."

Shadow slowly began to stand, only to stop as Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver all appeared around the two of them in a semi-circle. Rouge turned to them, but before she could say or do anything, Knuckles shot past her, throwing a punch at Shadow, only for Shadow to launch himself to the side, out of the way. he flipped, landing on his feet as Sonic reached him. Shadow's body reacted on instinct, leaping over Sonic, who had curled himself into a ball, then flipped, kicking downward and slamming his foot into Silver's head, blasting him into the ground. He landed lightly on his feet and spun, leaning out of the way of Knuckle's fist once again before slamming several blisteringly quick punches into Knuckles, then spun, slamming a windmill kick into the echidna's head, throwing him away. Sonic moved to charge, only for Rouge to step into his way, stopping him, even as Shadow retreated from Silver.

"Stop it, all of you!" Rouge snapped. "You all promised to let me handle it!"

Shadow stopped, staring at her, eyes wide. "You...You brought them with you?"

Rouge's eyes widened and she spun, seeing the betrayal shining from his eyes. "Shadow, I...I just want to help you. We all want to help! We're your friends, Shadow! Please, come back with us. We'll figure out what's happening to you and find a way to fix it."

Shadow opened his mouth to respond, only for red energy to begin to cover him again. Again his head throbbed, much worse this time, and he groaned, clutching his head.

"No!" Shadow groaned. "You have to run! I can't...I can't stop it!"

"Shadow!" Rouge said. "You have to calm down! Please! Everything's going to be okay!" She took a step forward, but stopped as Sonic caught her hand.

"Stay away from me!" Shadow snapped, anger flooding him. "I trusted you! I trusted you and you brought them here, knowing they wanted to arrest me for something I didn't mean to do!"

"I'm sorry!" Rouge said. "Shadow, please! If you calm down you'll be able to control it!" She took another step forward.

"I said stay away from me!" Shadow shouted, swinging his arms downward, a small explosion of red energy shooting outward, not reaching her but sending a wall of rubble and chunks of trees at all of the others, only for Sonic to get Rouge out of the way and the others to escape on their own. "Fuck! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"It's okay!" Rouge said.

"Knuckles, hold Rouge," Sonic said, tossing her to the echidna. "Silver, let's take him down fast."

Silver nodded, both preparing to attack.

"No!" Shadow said, staggering backward. "Stay away!"

He turned and fled, speeding across the ground, only for both to catch up. They both moved to attack him, but as he shouted in fear and crossed his arms in front of his face, a massive blast of red energy exploded off of him, blasting the area into a smoking crater and blasting both of the other hedgehogs, sending them bouncing away from the crater, both of them burned and injured. Shadow stared at the pair in surprise, before tears began to fall again.

"I'm sorry!" he said, speeding away again, desperate to find a place where no one would find him, where he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Friends

Blaze rushed into the medical wing of the partially-destroyed building, seeing Sonic and Silver were on a pair of medical beds, both of them bandaged and with IVs. "What happened? Who did this?"

"Shadow," Knuckles growled. "He's out of control."

"He's not out of control!" Rouge snapped, currently handcuffed to her chair, keeping her from being able to leave. "He's scared and hurt! And I never should have trusted you three!"

"What are you talking about?" Blaze asked. "What's happened?"

"Shadow was training with me and accidentally set off a Chaos Blast without the use of a Chaos Emerald," Omega said.

"That's possible?" Blaze asked.

"Apparently so," Knuckles said, gesturing to Sonic and Silver. "It's what he used to take both of them down."

"Yeah, when they were attacking him while he was begging them to stay back so he wouldn't hurt them!" Rouge snapped.

"There is more," Omega said. "When it happened, he seemed to be in terrible pain, and he was afraid and confused. He did not seem to understand what was happening. Shadow still does not remember who he was before coming here and replacing the Shadow that died. It is possible that wherever he came from before, and whoever built him, created a way for him to use his abilities without Chaos Emeralds. But as Shadow does not remember, he does not know. He is likely scared right now because he does not know who he is, or what he is. He did not seem to want to hurt anyone, and I believe he is currently trying to hide until he learns to control himself."

"If all he wants is to be left alone, why were you three trying to attack him?" Blaze asked, looking to Knuckles.

"Because we don't even know if he's actually our ally," Sonic said. "All we know is that someone built him, and he showed up at the same time as the real Shadow died. He could be a spy, or a puppet. He's pretty clearly a time bomb."

"No, he's a friend who's afraid of whatever's happening to him!" Rouge snapped. "And he's hurt because all of his friends betrayed him! And thanks to me believing you, that includes me!"

"What do you mean?" Blaze asked.

"Sonic tried to arrest Shadow right after the first blast," Rouge said. "I stopped him, and tried to convince him to let me try and calm Shadow down, that way we could help him. Sonic agreed, so I made the mistake of taking them with me when I went after Shadow. But then they attacked Shadow, and he thought I led them to him so they could arrest him. He thought I betrayed him. His feelings of fear and betrayal is what led to the second Chaos Blast that hurt Sonic and Silver, but when it went off, Shadow was trying to get away from us before it could go off, and they both went after him looking for a fight."

"So then it's their fault," Blaze summarized. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know," Rouge said. "I've been stuck here."

Blaze sighed and picked up the key to the handcuffs from where Knuckles had left it on the table.

"What are you doing!?" Knuckles demanded.

"I'm going to take Rouge and show Shadow he's not alone," Blaze said. "If he's scared and hurting, he's just going to get worse, since negativity is what powers his Chaos Blast, assuming it works the same way as the original Shadow's did. If we can show him that we're friends, we can calm him down and get him under control."

"And then I can take him in," Knuckles grinned.

"No," Blaze and Rouge both said.

"You're not going anywhere near him," Rouge said. "You're not attacking him again. None of the three of you are. Blaze and I will handle this ourselves."

* * *

Shadow curled tighter into himself, hugging his knees to his chest. He had exploded twice since he'd hurt Sonic and Silver. He was getting better at feeling when it was going to happen, and he could feel a blast beginning to build. Any minute now he'd erupt into a massive explosion, once again decimating the area he'd already scarred, and then he'd go back to the small, helpless coward he truly was.

"Shadow?" a voice called out just before two people stepped up to the edge of the crater, both stopping, staring down at him through the rain.

"Shadow!" A voice he recognized as Blaze, a purple, pyrokinetic cat, gasped.

"No!" Shadow shouted. "Stay back! I can't stop it!"

Rouge caught Blaze by the hand, retreating just before the explosion went off. Shadow collapsed in the center of the crater as the rain that had been pushed away by the blast all crashed down on him. He gasped for breath for a moment before managing to slow his breathing. A moment later, Blaze and Rouge were kneeling at his sides.

"Why are you here?" Shadow asked miserably. "Why can't you just leave me alone? Why do you keep trying to arrest me?"

"We're not here for that," Blaze said. "Neither of us wants to hurt you. We don't want you arrested. We're here to help."

"Shadow, I'm so sorry for what happened," Rouge said. "They swore to me that they only wanted to help, and that they'd let me help you. I didn't mean to betray you. I wanted to help you. I _still_ want to help you." she reached out, gently pulling him into a hug. "You're my friend, and I won't abandon you. Whatever's going on, we'll figure it out." Rouge gestured for Blaze to join the hug with the hand behind Shadow, and Blaze complied, wrapping her arms around both of the others.

"That's right," Blaze said. "We want to help you, Shadow. We won't let you suffer alone."

Shadow's eyes began to water, but he fought the tears back. He hated being weak. He refused to cry anymore. All he'd been doing since he blasted Omega was crying. He wrapped his arms around the two women, swallowing to hold back his sobs. "Thank you." His voice was frail, despite his best efforts, and when they heard it, both girls held him a little tighter.

"You don't have to play the tough guy," Rouge said. "It's alright to cry when you're scared. Even for a guy."

"We won't judge you," Blaze said. "You can let it out if you need to. No one will ever know."

Shadow leaned his head forward, resting it on both of their shoulders as he began to tremble. He tried to hold himself back, but failed, beginning to cry again despite his best efforts. Except, it was different this time. As he cried, he began to feel calmer. He began to feel like a hand that had been slowly crushing him before was easing off. And he felt the pressure from the next explosion, which had been building up inside of him, slowly beginning to fade. Finally, he had calmed down again and took a deep breath, lifting his head and wiping his eyes, even though they were all soaked from the rain. As he looked at the two, he noticed Rouge had been crying as well, and that both of the women were shivering.

"Come on," Shadow said. "There's a cave over this way. We should get out of the rain."

Both of them nodded and followed him out of the crater and through the forest surrounding them until they reached a cave. They walked inside and Shadow began to work to get a fire started using sticks. However, Blaze knelt beside him, gently taking the sticks and setting them back on the pile before using her pyrokinesis to start the fire instead.

"Thanks," Shadow said. "Are you two okay?"

"Us?" Rouge asked, smiling slightly. "We're worried about you."

"You're both the ones who're cold," Shadow pointed out, then smiled slightly. "I'm okay. I don't know why, but I can feel that...whatever this power is...it's calmed down. It's under control. At least, for the moment."

"That's good," Rouge smiled, she and Blake now seated on opposite sides of the fire. "Sit with us."

She and Blake both offered a hand, and Shadow hesitated for a moment before taking setting his own hands in theirs, allowing them to pull him down into a seated position beside the fire between them.

"Once the rain clears up, do you want to start trying to learn to control it?" Rouge asked. "Or would you like to rest for a bit first?"

"I think I want to rest," Shadow said. "But...you're sure the others won't come after me? I mean...I hurt Sonic and Silver." Panic filled his face instantly. "Oh my God! Are they okay?"

"Hey, come on now," Rouge smiled. "You have to stay calm, remember? That's how you keep in control. Sonic and Silver are both fine. They're already awake. And the others won't bother you. If they try, me and Blake will beat them up."

Shadow's face fell at that.

"It's alright, Shadow," Blaze said. "No one will get hurt. Trust us."

Shadow watched her for a moment before nodding. "Okay."

"Get some rest," Rouge urged. "We'll be here when you wake up."

Shadow nodded and lay on his side, staring at the fire for a few moments before closing his eyes and slipping into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Practice

Shadow spun around Blaze and threw a punch at her but she brushed it aside, then spun, flames exploding out of the back of her left heel, sending her foot flashing up into the side of his head in a roundhouse kick that flipped him sideways. He crashed down hard and grit his teeth, feeling his head start to pound. He took several breaths before standing just in time for Rouge's foot to crash into his chest, hurling him backward into a tree. He grunted as he hit and a red aura began to form.

"Shit!" Shadow gasped, gritting his teeth, struggling to calm himself, only for his fear to begin to build.

"It's alright, Shadow," Rouge said as she and Blaze knelt in front of him. "You control your power. Just focus your thoughts on what calms you."

"I can't!" Shadow said.

"Yes you can," Blaze said, she and Rouge taking his hands. "You just need to try. Close your eyes."

He did so.

"What do you enjoy?" Blaze asked.

"I don't remember," Shadow said.

"Picture yourself in a field," Rouge supplied. "We're all there. Knuckles is getting beaten up by me. Amy's hitting Sonic for accidentally flirting with Vanilla. Blaze is burning Silver for flirting with her."

A small smile formed on Shadow's lips, the red aura slowly fading.

"Now, open your eyes," Rouge said.

Shadow looked down, seeing the aura was gone and his smile widened slightly. "It...It worked."

"Of course it did," Rouge said. "I'm a genius."

Shadow pulled her into a hug instantly. "Thank you. But...I can't do this in the middle of a fight, and I can't fight without being angry. Anger is my strength."

"No," Blaze said. "You only think it is. Your strength doesn't come from your anger. Your strength is your own. You are one of the best fighters I know. You're far stronger than you think. You just need to have faith in yourself. We'll teach you to fight without anger. That way you can keep yourself in control."

Shadow swallowed hard and nodded, pushing himself up and taking a moment to calm himself, keeping the mental image of Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver all being beaten up by girls. Then, he readied himself and nodded.

* * *

Shadow flipped over Blaze, kicking at her, only for her to spin around his foot, jumping and kicking at him. He caught her leg and spun, hurling her into Rouge. As he landed, however, he wasn't in a forest. He was in a factory, and there was a massive machine before him, one with dozens of spiked tentacles, upon one of which, Rouge and Blaze were now impaled. Shadow's eyes widened as he fell to his knees, staring at them before clutching his head, a strangled cry of pain and grief ripping out of his mouth just as an explosion of red energy shot off of him. However, as soon as it cleared, a hand lifted him, allowing a second to slap him, hard.

He recoiled, gasping for breath as though he'd been holding it for minutes, and his wide, panicked eyes found Rouge and Blaze in front of him, both unharmed, backdropped by trees, not a giant killer robot, and now standing inside of a fresh crater. He tried to exhale, but his throat closed and when it finally opened, a sob slipped out. Blaze and Rouge both pulled him into a hug instantly, exchanging confused looks.

"I saw...you were both..."

"We're safe," Rouge said after a moment of him not speaking. "We're both here. We're not going anywhere."

"It...It was...so real," Shadow said. "There was a robot. It had these tentacles, and it..."

"It's alright," Blaze said. "It wasn't real. The only things out here are the three of us. I promise you, we're not going to go anywhere. We're not abandoning you."

Shadow nodded, slowly calming himself, though his arms didn't loosen their hold on the two women. After several minutes, he finally released them, wiping his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Blaze asked.

Shadow nodded, standing. "Can we try again?"

"Sure," Blaze nodded, she and Rouge readying themselves again.

* * *

Shadow stared at the burger Blaze had gone to a city nearby to get, along with their own. It had only taken her a few minutes, but the entire time she was gone, he had felt anxiety eating at him. it shouldn't have. He knew that much. But he couldn't help it. She and Rouge had become his lifeline in the last few days they'd been training. And ever since the vision, or hallucination, or whatever, that morning, he had been on edge. When she was gone, even while he fought Rouge, he hadn't been able to shake his fear that the vision would come true for Blaze, or that any number of other horrible fates might befall her.

"Are you alright?" Blaze asked, she and Rouge already halfway done their burgers, while Shadow hadn't even started his yet.

"Yeah," Shadow lied, taking a bite. "I'm fine."

Blaze nodded and watched him as he ate slowly before continuing to eat her own burger again.

* * *

Shadow flipped, firing a burst out of his right shoe, launching himself at the robot, curling himself into a ball as he did, tapping into his Chaos Energy, forming himself a spherical aura of it, his fur and quills all shining red just before one of the robot's tentacles swung around, crashing into him and sending him blasting into the ground, bouncing him, no longer as a ball, before the robot's bulldozer-sized fist crashed into him, sending him exploding into the wall. He crashed to the ground, coughing and groaning before standing and channeling his energy into his right palm, firing a barrage of spear-shaped energy blasts, which flashed through the air into the robot, exploding against it harmlessly before Shadow pushed off the wall, activating his shoes and racing out of the way of several tentacles, which stabbed into the ground in a line after him.

After a moment, he jumped, once again using his shoes and his Chaos Energy to send himself flashing toward the robot, this time exploding into its head hard. Its head, the size of a house, was its weak point, but even so, it was so massive that he hardly hurt it. It rocked backward, then lurched forward, headbutting him and sending him crashing to the ground again. Just as he began to stand, a tentacle flashed down at him, tabbing toward him, only for movement to obscure his vision.

* * *

Shadow sat up, gasping for breath, trying to scream, to shout for whoever it was to get out of the way and let him die, except he couldn't scream. He couldn't breathe. And he also wasn't fighting. He was in a cave, with a pair of arms wrapped around him, a soft voice gently murmuring comforting words, calming him even before he had realized she was there. He sighed, curling into Rouge, hugging her. It was the same robot as before. But how? Hw couldn't understand. Was it supposed to mean something? he didn't recognize the gigantic, black robot with spikes covering its back and a general body shape like King Kong, but covered in tentacles. So what was it?

"Are you alright?" Rouge asked.

"I...yeah," Shadow nodded. "I think so. Thank you."

Rouge smiled and nodded, gently guiding him to lay back down. Then, she sat beside him, her left hand in his right as her right hand gently traced the contours of his skull with her middle finger. He wanted to ask her what she was doing, but the light, pleasant sensations were making him feel exhausted rapidly. Before he even knew it, he was asleep again.

"You should be careful," Blaze warned. "If you're not, you might actually make Shadow fall in love with you. He's not the same loner we once knew."

Rouge simply smiled for a few minutes. "What about you?"

Blaze watched her for a few moments before sighing. "I want to help him. He needs someone to be there for him. And I don't want to hurt him."

Rouge nodded, smiling. "If you're not careful, he might just fall for you too."

Blaze didn't respond. Instead, she lay down, restarting their fire for warmth before drifting off to sleep. A few minutes later, Rouge did the same, Shadow's hand still clutched in her own.

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	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Chaos

Shadow spun around Blaze, allowing her to stumble away as he leaned backward, avoiding Rouge's foot, then catching her ankle, spinning and hurling her. The moment she was flying away, he sent a burst of flames out of his shoe and curled into curled into a ball, crashing into Blaze's gut just as she launched flames out of her feet to superman punch him. Blaze bounced off of her back and flipped to her feet as Shadow landed on his left hand, flipping horizontal and kicking Rouge in the stomach at the same time as allowing her kick to pass under his body. She shot backward, flipping and landing on the side of a tree before dropping to the ground once her momentum had dispersed.

"You're doing much better than yesterday," Blaze noted. "Did something finally click?"

"Something like that," Shadow said, holding his hand out to the side and firing blasts of Chaos Energy, as he had in his dream, blasting a tree into splinters with it. "I remembered a little bit of how to control it. And I finally figured out how to stay in control of my emotions a bit."

"That's great!" Rouge cheered, launching herself forward and grabbing him in a spinning hug.

Shadow rolled his eyes but smiled, hugging her back. "It's not perfect. I'm still struggling with keeping myself from turning into a bomb again. But it's progress."

"Yes it is," Rouge nodded, smiling at him before it faded slightly. "Do you...feel under control enough to go back? We can show them all that you're not a danger."

"Not yet," Shadow said. "If I went back now, and they tried to attack me, I'd probably blow up again."

"Okay," Rouge nodded. "You want to take a break for a little bit?"

"Sure," Shadow nodded. "Let's head into the city for lunch. I think I can control myself enough for that."

Rouge nodded and looked to Blaze, who also nodded, smiling almost as widely as Rouge was. The three of them turned, speeding through the forest and down the mountain they'd been living on, reaching the city within a few minutes. They headed to a small fast food restaurant where they all ordered chilidogs, then sat around a picnic table, Rouge and blaze sitting beside each other and Shadow across from them.

"It's been nice the last few days," Rouge said. "We haven't really had anything major to worry about."

"Me being a time bomb wasn't anything major to worry about?" Shadow asked.

"Not really," Rouge said. "I was never afraid of you."

"Like we told you at the beginning, we trust you," Blaze said. "We weren't worried about you exploding, because we trusted you to be able to keep control."

"I almost couldn't, several times," Shadow said.

"And we never lost faith in you," Rouge said. "And we never will. We'll always trust you."

Shadow smiled. "Thank you. both of you. If it weren't for the two of you...I don't think I'd be alive now. I would have given up a long time ago. I might have _actually_ exploded."

"You will never be alone," Rouge said.

"Even if we can't be at your side, you're not alone," Blaze said.

Shadow frowned. "You two sound like you're going somewhere."

"No," Rouge said. "But eventually we're going to have to go back to our lives, right? We won't be able to be together all hours of every day."

"Oh," Shadow said, deflating a bit. "I suppose you're right."

"Hey," Blaze said, taking his hand and smiling. "I told you, didn't I? Just because we're not at your side, doesn't mean you're alone."

Shadow managed a small smile and nodded. "I suppose you're right. What about your own dimension?"

"I can sense that there's nothing going on right now," Blaze said. "And right now, I'm here for you."

Shadow's smile widened. "Thanks."

"Hey, who's that?" Rouge asked.

Shadow twisted around, following Rouge's line of sight until he spotted a female echidna with a dark grey jacket with a white zipper up the middle, a white belt with a buckle bearing a "Z" on the face of it, pants that were black where she'd have underwear underneath, then turned dark grey, black boots with white along the bottom and for the three inch heels as well as a plate of white metal across the bridge of her feet, white gloves, and a gold hairband with a pair of earmuff-like ends, both of which bore stylized "Z"s on them. Her fur was a light grey, about the same shade as Silver's fur, and her dark blue eyes with pale blue sclerae were rivetted on Shadow. Shadow narrowed his eyes slightly. He had a really bad feeling about this.

"Be ready for anything," Shadow said, all three standing and both women as tense as him, also sensing trouble.

"If it's just her, we can handle her," Rouge said.

Shadow nodded in agreement, the three of them starting forward. The area was crowded with people going about their business, walking to or from lunch, heading back to work. They had to carefully weave their way through the crowd, but as they got about halfway, they stopped, seeing more and more probable enemies appearing each time someone passed and blocked their view. Shadow tensed, staring at the assembled group. The echidna A robot that looked disturbingly like sonic, but with some kind of crater or slot in its chest and with black sclerae. A humanoid robot with yellowish copper plating on its shins, forearms, torso and head, orange plating on a fin-like extension sticking up from the front of its head and curving backward, dark brown plating for its fingers, upper arms, and thighs, and blue eyes. And last but very, _very_ far from least, Shadow. He blinked, staring at the other him. It was like looking in a mirror, except that its eyes had black sclerae, it had no mouth, and its spines were a little longer and more pointed.

"What...What's going on?" Rouge asked. "Why is Metal Sonic here? Why is there _another_ Shadow?"

"Why is Emerl here?" Blaze asked.

"Who?" Shadow asked.

"Metal Sonic is the robot that looks like Sonic," Rouge said. "It's about as strong and fast as him. And Emerl is the other robot. It fought both Sonic and the first Shadow on level ground a few times."

"Both of you need to run, now," Shadow said, watching the enemies carefully. "If what you said is true, you need to get Sonic and the others. And you need to get everyone out of this area."

"What about you?" Blaze asked.

"I'll keep them all busy," Shadow said. "The way I see it, if I'm constantly exploding, they won't be able to beat me and still have the strength to take Sonic and the others when they get here."

"Be careful," Rouge said, knowing that he was right about her needing to leave with the others.

"You too," Shadow said. "Go now!"

Just as he said this, all of the enemies, shot into the air, only for Shadow to blast them all with a Chaos Spear, sending them crashing into buildings around the square. At the same time, it caused a panic, everyone fleeing from the square instantly, leaving Shadow plenty of room to lose the fight. He looked around, seeing Blaze and Rouge were both gone as well, and sighed in relief. He turned back tot he front as Emerl walked forward.

"I had heard you were dead," Emerl said.

"It's complicated," Shadow said, preparing himself. "Take my advice and walk away."

"Not happening," Emerl said. "I'm sorry Shadow, but you're going to have to die again. He didn't leave an option."

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked.

"Kill him now!" the echidna ordered.

Emerl sighed, then shot forward, punching at Shadow, who barely managed to deflect it, slamming a punch of his own into Emerl's head, sending him staggering away. He sent a blast out of his feet instantly, curling into a ball and tapping into his Chaos energy, only for the other Shadow to appear beside him, punting him and sending him crashing into the building. The robot from his nightmare flashed into his mind, and when he stood, he was shaking. However, he turned to his enemies and exploded forward anyway. The other Shadow met him, the two trading blows for several moments before Shadow flipped over his doppelganger's kick, slamming the bottom of his foot into its head and sending a blast of flames out of the thrusters, launching the other Shadow at the same time as sending himself at Emerl, who had been moving to attack him from behind. Unlike last time, he actually exploded into Emerl hard this time, sending him exploding backward into the same building the other Shadow had send Shadow into.

As soon as Shadow uncurled his body, Metal Sonic crashed into his gut as a ball of its own, sending him blasting into the ground where he bounced. He flipped, landing on his feet as Metal Sonic landed in front of him, punching and kicking at him rapidly. Shadow retreated from the blows rapidly, managing to fend them off for a few moments, before flames suddenly exploded out of the back of Metal Sonic's foot, sending a Roundhouse kick flashing up at Shadow's head, the same way Blaze liked to do. The difference was that this kick held all the speed of Sonic, more than double Blaze's top speed, and when it hit Shadow's forearms, it shattered both of them, then connected with his head anyway, sending him exploding along the ground.

He rolled to a stop just as the other Shadow crashed down on his stomach, the fir on half of his head burned away and revealing a machine skull. A robot. He flipped, throwing the robot Shadow's foot off before jumping and sending a blast of flames out of the front thruster of his right shoe, spinning himself in a circle before his heel collided with the side of that Shadow's head, launching it away. He landed on his feet, shouting in pain as white-blue light suddenly shone from his arms and they cracked loudly before healing, the pain fading in a second. Then, Emerl reached him, throwing a right cross. Shadow didn't give him time for a follow up strike, instead, shoving the punch across Emerl's body before drilling his own fist into Emerl's body, then slamming a same-side roundhouse kick into his head as he was partially bent to the side. Emerl flipped, his head hitting the ground before flames exploded out of Shadow's right shoe's front thruster again, flipping him in a complete circle and allowing him to slam a devastating axe kick down onto Emerl's head, cracking it.

He flipped backward instantly with a blast from his shoes just before Metal Sonic's foot could hit him. Then, as soon as he landed, he launched himself forward, curling into a ball as Chaos Energy raced over his curled up body. He exploded into Metal Sonic and launched him away, then used a blast from his shoes to send himself crashing down on Emerl's head. He bounced into the air and uncurled himself crossing his arms just in time for the Shadow robot's foot to crash into them, throwing him backward. That Shadow chased him as Emerl stood, but Shadow landed and raced forward, ducking aside from a punch and leaping off the ground, his knee colliding with the other Shadow's face hard, launching him as Shadow transitioned fluidly into a drop kick against Emerl's face, launching him backward into Metal Sonic, both crashing down on the other Shadow.

"Looks like it wasn't excessive to send them all, plus myself after all," the echidna said. "You're stronger than we anticipated. You're stronger than the last one."

Shadow watched her carefully, head pulsating and red energy glowing from his body. He was starting to slip. He couldn't hold it in much longer. The more he fought, the harder it became to control. Suddenly, Metal Sonic was behind him, once again using his foot's thruster to slam a roundhouse kick into Shadow's head, fortunately not cracking his skull open. Shadow flipped, managing to land on his feet only for Emerl and the other Shadow's feet to explode into his back, launching him at Metal Sonic again. Metal Sonic shot forward and slammed a lariat into Shadow's head, flipping him backward before he crashed to the ground and bounced and rolled to a stop. Then, he opened his eyes, seeing all three falling at him from above.

Fear ripped through him and his control snapped. He shouted in pain as the explosion ripped out of his body, filling the square and blasting all three of his attackers high into the air before they all crashed back down, none moving. Shadow gasped and panted for breath for a few moments before standing, turning and looking around. The echidna was standing just outside the crater, unscathed.

"I was...hoping you'd...get blasted too," Shadow said before taking a slow breath, calming his pounding heart and slowing his breathing.

"You have no Emeralds, and yet your power is still devastating," she said. "Impressive."

"It's down to just you," Shadow said, only for all three of the others to stand, preparing to fight again.

"Stop," the echidna said. "I'll deal with this. Go and begin phase one."

All three took off instantly, spreading into the city and beginning to obliterate it, wreaking havoc and causing a panic in seconds. Shadow glanced around, then focused his attention on her again.

"You don't need to worry about those three," she said. "Because I'm going to kill you, here and now."

She shot forward, reaching him almost before he could react and spun, swinging a left-legged windmill kick at his head. He ducked under it, moving to counter, only for her support leg to push off of the ground, flashing up at him as her other leg flipped straight toward the ground. Her right heel exploded into the underside of his chin as she finished her kick by swinging her leg around into a twirl, then set it back down. Then, just as Shadow hit the ground, she had reached him again, punting him. He shot away, bouncing once before flipping and swiping both arms, spraying a dozen Chaos Spears into the air before him, not bothering to aim since she had already almost reached him. However, she spun counterclockwise to her right, going around the blasts, and reached him just as his feet hit the ground. He sent a blast of flames out of his shoes and stopped himself on a dime, sweeping a punch aside before stepping forward, going onto the offensive. he punched at her head and she brushed it aside, smirking. He spun, throwing an elbow and she blocked it, so he spun the other way, throwing a feint punch from his right while using his left shoe's thrusters to throw a roundhouse kick. However, she caught his right arm, flipping over him, then hurled him over her head by the hand and forearm. He flipped backward once before crashing to the ground and flipping again. He send a larger blast out of his shoes, launching himself forward as he curled into a ball, Chaos Energy streaming over his skin, but she likewise launched herself into a homing attack. When they hit, both bounced backward and uncurled, landing on their feet before shooting forward, throwing a knee at each other, only for the other to catch it.

Shadow shoved her knee away and sent a continuous blast out of his shoe's front thruster, spinning into a windmill kick, which she leaned out of the way of, only for him to focus his Chaos Energy into a tornado around himself as he leapt at her while continuing to successively spin. She leapt backward, landing on her feet as he sped toward her, only for her to stand, pulling her right hand off entirely, revealing the inside of her arm to be a barrel, which she aimed at him. Then, an ion blast exploded into his chest and launched him backward. He crashed to the ground, groaning, and watched as she pressed her detached hand to her wrist and twisted it outward, a click sounding as the hand reattached itself, suddenly seeming to have never been detached as she flexed, twisted, and rolled it. Shadow pushed himself up and grit his teeth. he refused to lose. He couldn't. If he lost this fight, the city would be destroyed. He focused, instinct driving him as he exploded forward once again, pulling his right fist back. His fist suddenly shove with blood red Chaos Energy, and the echidna, who had been moving to meet him, suddenly dropped into a slide, instead taking his feet out from under him. He swore, falling forward and his fist met the ground rather than her face. Instantly, a massive explosion of chaos energy went off, obliterating the ground within then entirety of the square, but not going very far around it. Shadow rolled to the bottom of the crater and grit his teeth. She was too fast. She was too skilled. He couldn't beat her.

He looked up at her as she walked calmly down the side of the crater at him. He shot forward, jumping and Superman punching at her, only for her to turn sideways, avoiding it and drilling a punch into his side. He spun, punching at her and she brushed it aside, a second punch colliding with his gut. He threw a haymaker with his other hand, all sense of technique gone in his desperation, and she blocked the punch less than a second before drilling a roundhouse kick into his head. He staggered to the side and she dropped, sweeping his legs out from under him, sending him bouncing and rolling down into the crater again. When he stood, she was already in front of him. He sung a blurred uppercut at her, but she leaned back out of the way, then slammed a punch into the side of his jaw, then another into his gut. She grabbed his head and threw it downward as she jumped into a knee, slamming it directly into his muzzle, and when he flipped backward, she again swept his feet out from under him. He crashed to the ground again only for her to grab him by the throat, lifting him back up to continue her beating.

As soon as he was upright, he spat blood into her eyes and threw a jab at her, but she knocked it aside, slamming a pair of punches into his face, an uppercut into his lower ribs, a chop into the side of his neck, making the lights go out instantly, only to wake him back up immediately afterward by greeting his head on the way down with a kick that flipped him backward fast enough that he landed on his upper shoulder, rolled over his right shoulder, and ended up on his stomach in a groaning, bleeding heap.

"Just lay there and die," she said. "I'll make it painless if you hold still." She reached for her hand, only for Shadow to slowly begin to push himself up, swaying badly, his torso's fur matted with his blood, and his face coated in it from his broken nose split lips. The echidna shook her head slowly. "Why don't you just give up? You obviously can't win."

"Because...I want to...see them again," Shadow said, red Chaos Energy suddenly shining from his right palm almost blindingly as he shot forward, slamming his hand into her abdomen. "Chaos Blast!"

The explosion was directed almost into a beam, this time, and she wasn't able to dodge or block it, forcing her to take the full brunt of the blast. She exploded backward, the blast carrying her with it all the way up the side of the crater, then into a parking garage on the edge of the square, which collapsed on her instantly. Shadow sighed, staggering his way up out of the crater, only for the debris to suddenly explode off of her as ion energy exploded off of her, freeing her instantly. Shadow stared, wide-eyed, at her in shock and disbelief. She wasn't hurt. At all. She had taken the full force of that blast, and she wasn't even burned. The only thing that had been damaged were her clothes, which were hanging off of her in tatters. She walked forward, tearing the remains of her clothes off of herself when her hand caught on one of the tears in her pantleg. Shadow's eyes widened still further, but he wasn't staring at her perky breasts with her pale pink nipples, or at the cleft between her legs, though his brain _did _manage to register those details. Instead, his eyes were glued to the seams. She was like him. Her body was segmented the same way he was. She was the same as him. Except, she was completely different. She was so much stronger than him. He had put all the power he had into that last blast, and it hadn't even gotten her dirty.

"It's...impossible," Shadow breathed, swaying dangerously before steadying himself. "How?"

"You almost had me," she admitted. "Fortunately for me, I enveloped my entire body with ion energy the moment you moved. Even still, your blast was able to get through close enough to completely ruin my clothes. I'm glad I blocked it as fast as I did, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Shadow swayed again and fell to his knees. So she wasn't just indestructible, then. She was just skilled and resourceful. He let out a long, exhausted sigh that was closer to a slow exhale. He didn't feel like such a failure knowing that. He had at least been close. Which meant Sonic could beat her. Or Silver could.

The echidna closed her fingers around his throat, lifting him up off the ground, holding him over her head. "Any last words?"

Shadow's eyes slid from her face to the destruction around them. He could still hear the three robots terrorizing the city, see the smoke of the fires they were causing, hear the screams of citizens trying to find someplace safe to hide. He still didn't know who was in charge, he realized. It could be anyone. Eggman. That Black Doom alien that had apparently been defeated by the original Shadow. One of the other dozens of evil beings the others had told Shadow about.

"Who...do you...serve?" Shadow finally asked.

The echidna stared at him for a long while before speaking. "I serve Mephiles."

"Mephiles?" Shadow asked.

"He's the dark half of the sun god Solaris," she said. "But he's been collecting power since he lost to the original Shadow. He absorbed Dark Gaia's power, he absorbed the power of the Time Eater, and he stole the Phantom Ruby. He's basically all powerful now."

"Do you serve him out of loyalty?" Shadow asked.

"He created me," she said. "Or, so I was told. But if I don't serve, I die."

Shadow nodded. "Then I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked.

"For this," he said, smashing her arm away, Chaos Energy shining from both palms.

However, before he could strike her, movement to his right caught his eye. His eyes flicked to the side and he saw a mass of darkness with glowing red eyes fire a massive blast of compressed darkness out of itself at them both. Instinct drove Shadow forward, wrapped his arms around her, and spun so that he would take the brunt of the blast and shield her. And then, instinct sent white-blue Chaos Energy flooding over his skin, condensing it on his back. And then, when the blast hit and exploded, intstinct faded along with his consciousness.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Answers

Shadow winced as he began to stir. His entire body hurt, and he felt like he'd been run over by a train. Although, judging by how badly beaten he'd been by that echidna, being run over by a train would probably be a bit less painful. He opened his eyes and blinked slowly, staring up at the inside of a collapsed building. He slowly pushed himself up, looking around. The echidna was lying beside him, his arms having still been around her when he pushed himself up, and the rubble around them had fallen just right to allow them a small safe area where they could sit up without bumping their heads.

Shadow reached down, feeling for the echidna's pulse, only for her to suddenly bat his hand away, her right hand suddenly shrinking, compressing into a foot-long, double-edged blade. She grabbed him by the shoulder, slamming his back down into the ground so she could pin him, only to freeze when he shouted in pain, arching his back off the ground. She released him, keeping her blade ready as he rolled off of his back, turning it toward her, his body shaking and trembling from the pain. She stared at the wound covering his back. It looked like his back had been hit by a flamethrower that had glass mixed into the flames.

She frowned, looking around and suddenly realizing that she had no idea where they were. She tried to remember, but it was confused. Everything had happened so fast. She remembered choking him and holding him off the ground. She remembered him breaking free of her grip. But then, after that, all she could remember was darkness and heat. She stared at his back. Had he protected her? Had he shielded her from a blast that would have hit them both? Clearly it wouldn't have been a fatal blow, but if she had been hit, half her body would probably look like his back now.

She reached out, gently lifting the spines on his back out of the way, inspecting the wound. "You're a fool. Why would you protect me when I was about to kill you?"

"I don't know," Shadow admitted. "I saw was attacking, and my body just reacted. Are you going to finish it?"

She was silent for a long while before sighing. "No. I won't kill you this time. A life for a life."

Shadow nodded, slowly, agonizingly, pushing himself up and turning to her. "Who are you? What...What are we?"

"You really don't know?" she asked. "We're androids." She pulled her hand off to demonstrate her point. "We're a cross between machines and organics. That other Shadow was also an Android, but it was one created by Dr. Robotnik, not Mephiles, or whoever created you."

"Robotnik?" Shadow asked. "Eggman?"

"Yes," she nodded. "As for me, my designation is Zeta R-02. I was told that my sole purpose for creation was to kill you."

"But...if that's true, why are you letting me live for now?" Shadow asked.

Zeta was silent for a moment. "You protected me. You didn't intend to, and you were trying to kill me, but you protected me. I may be a combat model, and I may have been created for the sole purpose of killing you, but that doesn't mean I don't have a consciousness, or a soul."

"Do you really believe Mephiles created you?" Shadow asked.

"No," Zeta said. "He's many things, but a scientist is not one of them."

"Do you know who created me?" Shadow asked. "I can't remember anything before stumbling across the original Shadow's corpse."

"You didn't stumble across it," Zeta said. "You're from a different dimension. Something happened there and you were launched out of your own dimension. You probably happened across this dimension by pure chance."

Shadow nodded. "What will you do once we're out of here?"

"I'm going to return to my mission," Zeta said. "Phase one is likely complete by now. I need to get back before the beginning of Phase three."

"What _is_ Phase three?" Shadow asked.

"I can't tell you," Zeta said. "I appreciate you protecting me, but you're still my enemy."

"So, you really _do_ serve him out of loyalty," Shadow said.

"No, I simply choose to fight on the winning side," Zeta said.

"But what you're doing is _wrong_!" Shadow said. "You have to know that!"

"Orders are orders," Zeta said. "I do as I am instructed. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You deciding to let me live disproves that statement," Shadow said.

Zeta watched him for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Are you trying to convince me to kill you?"

"I'm just stating facts," Shadow said.

Zeta was silent for a long moment. "Mephiles wants you dead, but he's after something else as well. I believe he is trying to go to a different dimension. I don't know which, and I don't know how."

Shadow nodded. "Why does he need people scared?"

"He draws power from the negative energy created by fear," Zeta said. "I'm sorry. That's all I can tell you."

Shadow nodded, looking up at the debris above them. "How do we get out of here?"

Zeta aimed her left arm's barrel up at the rubble, not having put her hand back on yet. She fired a blast of ion energy like a lightning bolt up through the rubble, the lightning cutting through it like water through fog, leaving glowing red stone behind in the hole it formed. Once the blast had ended, she reattached her hand just as a face appeared in the hole, the heatwaves from the sides of the hole distorting it.

"Who's down there!?" Tails' voice called out.

"Shadow!" Shadow called back.

"Hang tight!" Tails said. "I'll have Silver clear the rubble!"

"Wait!" Shadow shouted, Tails returning instantly. "Bring a blanket! There's a girl down here whose clothes were ruing in an explosion!"

"Got it!" Tails said, speeding off.

"Thank you," Zeta said. "But you know they won't let me leave without a fight."

"They will," Shadow said. "They'll be too focused on cleanup to worry about you." He watched her for a moment before sighing. "You know, you don't _have_ to leave."

"I told you," Zeta said. "I fight for the winning side, and I was created for the sole purpose of killing you."

Shadow sighed and nodded, and after a few minutes, the rubble above and around them suddenly glowed light blue, rising up out of the way and creating them a path out before Amy slid down the slope and passed Zeta a blanket, eyeing her suspiciously.

"You know, Rouge and Blaze said that there was a grey echidna that attacked with the others," Amy said.

"Leave it alone, Amy," Shadow said. "Trust me."

Amy glanced at him and her eyes widened as she saw how badly wounded he was. "Oh my God! Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine," Shadow said. "Come on. Let's get out of this hole before Silver decides he's tired of waiting."

Amy nodded and the three of them climbed out of the pit, Silver setting the rubble down. Blaze and Rouge both met Shadow with a hug, both of them asking if he was okay and inspecting his injuries. As they were, Shadow glanced off to the side, his eyes meeting Zeta's for a moment before she turned and left, speeding away from the city. Shadow sighed, returning his attention to the two women before him.

"I'm glad you two are okay," Shadow smiled.

"Us?" Blaze asked. "You're the one who fought four powerful enemies all by yourself!"

"Are you sure you're okay, Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"I'll be fine," Shadow smiled. "I'll be healed by tomorrow."

Rouge nodded, sighing in relief, and she and Blaze both hugged Shadow, who held them comfortingly.

* * *

"How was your mission, Zeta?" Mephiles asked as she knelt before him in a fresh, unruined uniform.

"It was...unexpected, Master," Zeta said.

"How so?" Mephiles asked.

"It was more...exciting than I anticipated," Zeta said. "During training, I rarely get adrenaline rushes, but the entire time I fought Shadow, I felt...alive. Like I had an endless flow of adrenaline. It was...strange. I've never felt so...focused before."

"That's understandable," Mephiles said. "You _were_ created to destroy him, after all. It's understandable you would get excited in a fight against him. How well did he defend himself?"

"He was unable to keep up, Master," Zeta said. "The next time we fight, I have no doubt I will eliminate him."

"I notice you spared him while the two of you were trapped," Mephiles said. "Why?"

"I...He shielded me from an attack, so I felt...indebted to him," Zeta said. "To repay him, I spared him, that way the next time we fight, I will have no reason to spare him again."

"Good," Mephiles said. "Because if you allow him to live the next time you two fight, I will personally crush you like the piece of scrap you are."

"Of course, Master," Zeta bowed. "I will not fail you again."

Mephiles nodded and turned away. "Go and prepare for phase three. I will not allow anything to delay my goals."

Zeta bowed again, then turned and walked away. She frowned as she stepped into the elevator, finger hovering in front of the button for her floor. Would she even be _able_ to defeat him in their next fight? Especially now that he knew how much power he would need to kill her? She shook her head, pressing the button. She was worrying for nothing. Of course she'd beat him. He may have the power to beat her, but he wasn't skilled or fast enough to actually land a blow, so long as she wasn't careless.

She stepped out of the elevator and walked through the base to her private quarters. She walked over to her bed and stopped, hand resting on the blanket balled up on the foot of it, the same Shadow had asked Tails to get so she could cover herself. He was more of a gentlemen than she had expected. By all reports, he was supposed to be abrasive, independent, and cold, and yet he had protected her, and had specifically asked for something that would help her avoid embarrassment.

She shook her head throwing the blanket into her room's laundry chute. It didn't matter. Her debt was settled already. She walked to her computer and plugged herself in using the port in her left forearm, beginning to run diagnostics to make sure she was prepared for combat. She also pulled up the memory of her fight with him as a video feed from her perspective, studying it to help memorize his fighting style. Once she was done, and the diagnostics were complete she reached over to shut off the computer, only to hesitate. After a moment of indecision, she entered a few keystrokes and watched as a small window opened, switching between dozens of camera feeds rapidly before stopping as a security feed from a restaurant where Shadow and those two women who had been hugging him before were eating. Her eyes narrowed slightly at the memory of the two women all but throwing themselves at Shadow. Then, she shook her head. It didn't matter who they were, or what Shadow was doing. She had other things to do. She reached over to shut off the computer.

* * *

Shadow finished off his burger and sighed, watching as Rouge and Blaze ate theirs, eating slower than him, since he was starving from getting his ass kicked. His mind began to drift to his conversation with Zeta, and to his identity. He didn't doubt her about him being an android. He didn't doubt that he was from another dimension either. The only problem was, without his memories, if he was an android, that meant he wasn't Shadow at all, alternate dimension or not. If he wasn't Shadow, he didn't know who he was.

"What?" Rouge asked. "You look troubled."

"It's nothing," Shadow said. "Nothing I didn't already suspect."

Rouge and Blaze looked at each other in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Blaze asked.

Shadow swallowed hard. "I'm...I'm not Shadow. Not just the your one...I'm...I'm not even a living being. I'm an android. I'm a machine from an alternate dimension, who happened to be sent here somehow, and by pure coincidence was able to take the place of Shadow when he died. I'm just a rip off."

Rouge reached across the table, taking his hand. "Shadow, you're not a rip off. You may be an android, and you may not be from this dimension, but you have never been a rip off, or a replacement. You may not be the original Shadow, but you're still _our_ Shadow."

He stared at her as Blake smiled and nodded. "That's right. You're Shadow. You're as much one of us as we are. And you'll always have a place with us."

"I doubt the others will see it that way," Shadow said. "They attacked me for losing control. Once they have confirmation someone _built_ me..."

"Screw the others," Rouge said. "If they refuse to accept you, then who cares what they think?"

"But...they're your friends," Shadow said.

"And so are you," Rouge said. "I promised you I wouldn't turn my back on you, and I won't. If the others are too hung up on _what_ you are rather than _who_ you are, then they're not worth being your friends. You'll always have me."

"And me," Blaze said. "You're important to us, Shadow. She we'll always have your back."

Shadow smiled, sighing. "You should be careful how you word things, Blaze. A man might get the wrong idea."

"Only if I hadn't meant it that way," Blaze said, Shadow and Rouge both staring at her before Rouge smirked.

"I hope you know I don't plan to let you just steal him," Rouge said, Shadow's stare shifting to her.

"What...you mean...you..._both_ of you..."

Both women nodded, taking his hands.

"We care about you, Shadow," Blaze said.

"We'll always be there for you," Rouge said. "So you don't have to worry about losing us anymore."

"We'll be there for you for as long as you'll have us," Blaze said.

Shadow smiled, only for the robot from his nightmare to flash through his mind, Blaze and Rouge impaled on a tentacle. His hands both clenched as his head throbbed, his Chaos Energy beginning to spike.

"Shadow!?" Rouge asked worriedly, able to see the fear in his eyes.

"S-Sorry," Shadow stammered, fighting his power back under control. "I don't..."

"It's alright," Blaze said. "Come on. Let's get back to our cave so you can rest."

Shadow nodded, standing unsteadily for a moment before getting himself under control and following them out of the city.

* * *

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	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Preparing

Shadow watched Rouge and Blaze as they argued. They believed they were far enough away that he wouldn't hear them discussing how to decide which of them would get to be with him and which would be a friend, however, likely because of being an android, Shadow's hearing was sharp enough that he could hear their entire conversation. Well, maybe argument was more accurate. After a while, however, they gave up arguing for the time being and agreed to settle the argument later. Shadow, having moved toward the back of the cave, ignored both as they walked into the cave.

He frowned as he stared at his hands. His stomach was twisting into knots, and his heartbeat felt like shredded glass. He didn't understand. He should be happy, right? Not only had both promised to choose him over the rest of their friends, but they had both basically told him that they had feelings for him, enough to actually argue with each other over who should get to act on those feelings. He should be happy that he had two beautiful women fighting over him. And he was. Except...he wasn't. Something about it just...wasn't sitting well. He couldn't figure out what, though.

"Are you alright?" Rouge asked, kneeling beside him.

"I...Zeta, the echidna, said that she was sent by something called Mephiles," Shadow said, Rouge tensing. "I assume that's bad?"

"Very," Blaze said. "We barely managed to beat him before. He was stronger than Sonic."

"Well, I think it's probably worse now," Shadow said. "According to Zeta, he absorbed something called Dark Gaia, the Time Eater, and the Phantom Ruby."

"What!?" Rouge gasped. "Oh shit!"

"How do we beat that?" Blaze asked.

"We'll need the Chaos Emeralds," Rouge said. "Sonic, Silver, and Shadow will have to use their super states."

"I don't even know how," Shadow said.

"Sonic can explain it," Blaze said. "But we need to warn them about what we're up against."

Shadow nodded. "I don't think I can run that far right now." He lifted a hand to his face. "I'm still not fully healed."

"I'll go," Blaze said. "I'll tell them what we're up against. Then as soon as you're rested, you and Rouge can join us."

Shadow glanced up at her, fear gripping him, but nodded. This was more important than whatever insecurity and obsessive codependence he'd obviously developed. The others needed to be warned.

"Please be careful," Shadow said.

Blaze smiled back at him. "Don't worry. I'll see you when you get there."

Shadow nodded and Blaze took off. Shadow's hand began to wring themselves anxiously almost immediately.

"Hey," Rouge said, taking both of his hands with one of hers, cupping his cheek with her free hand. "It's going to be alright. She'll be fine. But you need to rest."

"I don't know if I can," Shadow said. "I'm afraid of what I'll see."

Rouge frowned, nodding, remembering being woken up several nights in a row by him having a nightmare. "I know you're worried, and I know you don't want to have nightmares. But you need to rest so you can heal and get your strength back, that way we can go home and see Blaze again."

Shadow nodded, but clearly wasn't convinced. Rouge sighed, smiling, then reached up, kissing him on the cheek. His eyes widened slightly, and she released his hands, cupping both sides of his face.

"Rest, Shadow," Rouge said. "I'll be right beside you."

Shadow nodded, forcing a smile before laying down and forcing himself to sleep.

* * *

Shadow flipped, firing a burst out of his right shoe, launching himself at the robot, curling himself into a ball as he did, tapping into his Chaos Energy, forming himself a spherical aura of it, his fur and quills all shining red just before one of the robot's tentacles swung around, crashing into him and sending him blasting into the ground, bouncing him, no longer as a ball, before the robot's bulldozer-sized fist crashed into him, sending him exploding into the wall. He crashed to the ground, coughing and groaning before standing and channeling his energy into his right palm, firing a barrage of spear-shaped energy blasts, which flashed through the air into the robot, exploding against it harmlessly before Shadow pushed off the wall, activating his shoes and racing out of the way of several tentacles, which stabbed into the ground in a line after him.

After a moment, he jumped, once again using his shoes and his Chaos Energy to send himself flashing toward the robot, this time exploding into its head hard. Its head, the size of a house, was its weak point, but even so, it was so massive that he hardly hurt it. It rocked backward, then lurched forward, headbutting him and sending him crashing to the ground again. Just as he began to stand, a tentacle flashed down at him, stabbing toward him, only for movement to obscure his vision. Something warm and wet splattered across his face and he staggered backward. Then, he stopped, staring ahead of himself. The robot loomed over him just as menacingly as it had throughout the entire battle, its tentacles had moved to surround Shadow on every side, but his eyes focused on only one, one on which Blaze and Rouge were both impaled through the chest.

They were still alive, though only barely. Their lips moved, but his brain couldn't process their words. Pain ripped through him. A pain worse than any blade or broken bone. Then, both women went limp, slumping forward as their wounds finished claiming them. Grief so powerful it suffocated flooded him, and he let out a cry of despair just as a massive blast of red Chaos Energy ripped out of him, completely obliterating all of the tentacles. Blaze and Rouge's bodies spun through the air, only for Shadow to flash under them and up the wall, catching both before dropping to the ground and gently laying them both down.

"I'm sorry," he said, tears flooding down his cheeks, doing nothing to wash away the blood covering his face. "I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry. I never deserved you two."

The robot began to laugh. "Oops. Guess you need new girlfriends now, huh? It's alright. You'll be seeing them again soon."

Shadow turned, glaring back at the robot, his irises suddenly blood red and shimmering as his fur turned red, Chaos Energy coursing over his body. "I'm going to rip you out of there and tear you limb from limb!"

He exploded forward, speeding around tentacles as they stabbed down at him. The robot's massive fist shot down at him again, but this time he flipped over it, landing on the back of the robot's forearm and sped up it, leaping into the air and sending a blast out of his shoes to launch himself at the robot's head before curling into a ball. He exploded into the robot, instantly letting out a Chaos Blast, sending the robot staggering away. He uncurled, using his shoes to reach the robot's head again, focusing his Chaos Energy to his fist just before punching it, the explosion sending cracks shooting over the robot's head instantly. Tentacles stabbed at him rapidly, but he blasted them all with another Chaos Blast, landing on his feet in the center of the room.

The robot roared, its massive torso opening as the spikes on its back sank into its body, protruding from its torso as barrels and unleashing a massive wall of lasers while missile launchers on the inside of its torso's plating fired dozens of missiles at him as well. Shadow took off in a blur instantly, flipping and ducking around missiles as he circled the room, closing in on the robot rapidly. miniguns suddenly grew from the robot on all sides, opening fire at him, but Shadow narrowed his eyes, speeding up becoming a red streak as he moved to the rounded wall, speeding around and around, the robot's upper body spinning to follow him. Then, finally, Shadow used his shoes to explode off of the wall, exploding into the weakened side of the robot as a ball and smashing through it, falling into the robot. He grinned, setting off a Chaos Blast and ripping the interior of its torso apart before landing on a round piece of metal that he didn't know the purpose of. He grinned, looking up at a camera.

"You'd better get out now," Shadow warned. "I'm going to rip your toy to pieces!"

Then, he was off, exploding around the room as a ball, using his shoes as much as bouncing to destroy everything he could come into contact with, bouncing around the inside of the robot like a giant game of pinball. Finally, he exploded out of the robot's right side just before the entire robot exploded, massive chunks of metal crashing down all over the room. Shadow flipped, landing on his feet and turned, smirking at the smoke in the center of the room where a silhouette was crouched, though it slowly pushed itself up to its feet, turning and glaring at him with its three yellow eyes with red irises.

"There you are," Shadow snarled. "Time for you to die."

Then, he was off, his enemy moving to meet him instantly.

* * *

Shadow's eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright as a scream echoed in his ears. He looked around, eyes wide, only to see Rouge sleeping soundly beside him. He exhaled slowly as the scream faded into the recesses of his mind. It was only a dream. Except, it wasn't. He knew what it was. It was a memory. It was his life before coming to this dimension. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He looked to Rouge, staring for a moment as he reminded himself she was still alive, then sighed.

He reached up, feeling his face gingerly, finding it was fully healed. He stood, walking out of the cave and a few hundred meters off tot he right to a stream, kneeling and washing the blood off of himself before walking back. He stopped at the mouth of the cave, watching Rouge in silence for a few minutes before sighing and walking over, kneeling and gently shaking her awake. She stirred, looking up at him before sitting up and yawning, stretching her body before smiling slightly.

"Did you sleep well?" Rouge asked.

"No," Shadow said. "But I'm healed now. Come on. We should get back to the others."

Rouge nodded, pushing herself up to her feet and catching his hand when he turned to walk outside. "Shadow, are you okay? Do you want to talk about your nightmare?"

"It wasn't a nightmare," Shadow said. "They never were. They're flashes of memory from my life before coming to this dimension."

"Memory?" Rouge asked, frowning. "What happened?"

Shadow was silent for a long while before sighing. "I was fighting a giant robot. It was all black and had spikes all over its back. It looked kind of like a giant black Omega that stood a hundred feet tall, except that it had spikes all over its back and long silver tentacles made out of metal splints wrapped around whatever the core was. I wasn't strong enough to beat it, though, and it almost killed me. Except...you and Rouge sacrificed yourselves to save me. I think...I think maybe the three of us were all together in that dimension, but I don't remember. After you died, I lost it. I used my Chaos Energy on a completely other level to fight the robot, fueling my power with my anger and pain. And I obliterated the robot in a little more than a minute. But, the robot wasn't the real enemy. There was someone...some_thing_ inside of it. I woke up before I could see what it was though. I just remember it having three eyes."

Rouge nodded slowly. "So...a threesome, then, huh?"

Shadow scowled at her. "Really? _That's_ what you took away from that?"

"Well, that's the only part that matters, right?" Rouge asked. "Whatever it was you were fighting in that dimension, and whatever happened to me and Blaze there, you're not fighting that thing here, and me and Blaze are both alive here. And we both still care about you. So the only thing that matters in my opinion is that you want to be able to have us both."

"I never said that," Shadow said. "I don't remember saying I was interested in either of you."

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

Shadow held out as long as he could before groaning and looking back at her. She smiled and cupped his cheek.

"I'm all for sharing with Blaze, if you want to," Rouge said. "Assuming she's willing. But first, you have to admit, right here and now, that you're secretly a hopeless romantic, not a tough guy, and that you desperately want to be able to have me and Blaze both. And you have to admit that your grumpy attitude isn't because people annoy you, but because you're lonely."

"Right now, _you're_ annoying me," Shadow said, Rouge raising an eyebrow. He groaned. "I..." His eyes softened, a melancholy expression filling his face as he recalled his memory, and how broken he'd been when he saw Blake and Rouge impaled on the tentacle.

Suddenly, his brain was seeing their mouths moving, but this time he was able to understand their words. Both of them, saying the same thing. "We will always love you. You will always be the real Shadow to us. And if we ever meet again, we swear to you that we will still feel the same way about you."

Tears slid down Shadow's cheeks. He didn't know how, but they had kept their promise. He had gone to a separate dimension, and yet they still cared.

"I...I need you," Shadow said. "Both of you. Please."

"Close enough," Rouge smiled, then leaned forward, gently pulling him into a kiss.

Shadow reacted instantly, kissing her back and holding her against himself, somehow managing to cry at the same time. After a few minutes, Rouge pulled away, smiling, and wiped his eyes.

"Come on," Rouge said. "Let's go meet up with your other girlfriend."

Shadow nodded, wiping his eyes only to hug her. Rouge sighed, wrapping her arms around him and gently stroking his back as he slowly calmed himself. Finally, he pulled away and nodded again and they turned, leaving their cave and speeding back to G.U.N. HQ where the others should be gathered. However, when they arrived, Sonic turned to them, narrowing his eyes.

"There you are!" Sonic snapped. "Where the hell have you been? We need you to tell us everything you can about what we're up against. Who was the echidna? What do they want? Are they working for anyone?"

"Are they working for..." Shadow stared at him, eyes slowly widening. "Didn't...Blaze tell you?"

"Blaze?" Silver asked. "We haven't seen Blaze since you all disappeared from the city yesterday."

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Beginning

"There you are!" Sonic snapped. "Where the hell have you been? We need you to tell us everything you can about what we're up against. Who was the echidna? What do they want? Are they working for anyone?"

"Are they working for..." Shadow stared at him, eyes slowly widening. "Didn't...Blaze tell you?"

"Blaze?" Silver asked. "We haven't seen Blaze since you all disappeared from the city yesterday."

Shadow and Rouge stared at him, wide-eyed, before Shadow's eyes narrowed and he let out a snarl. "Zeta!"

"Who?" Sonic asked.

"The echidna," Shadow said. "Her name is Zeta and she can fire ionized energy like lightning out of her arms, as well as release it from her whole body for both offensive and defensive purposes. She serves Mephiles, who has absorbed Dark Gaia, the Time Eater, and the Phantom Ruby."

"We're fucked," Knuckles laughed humorlessly. "We can't beat that kind of power!"

"We don't have a choice," Silver said. "We'll need the emeralds."

"We'll need _epitaphs,_" Knuckles corrected.

"We can do it," Sonic said, everyone turning to him. "Silver can use the Chaos emeralds to enter his Super form, and Shadow can to, maybe with a bit of help. Then me and Knuckles will enter our Hyper forms."

"Hyper forms?" Shadow asked.

"It's been a long time since I've done that," Knuckles said. "I don't know if I remember how."

"Hyper form is a step above Super form, using the Master Emerald to power up the Chaos Emeralds," Sonic said.

"Why don't you have Silver do that too?" Shadow asked.

"Because Hyper form is hard to control," Knuckles said. "The first time you use it, you're liable to use up the entire form's energy in one go unless you learn to control it. And even then, it's so exhausting that it'll leave you practically comatose for days afterward. Sonic and I haven't used it for forever. Haven't had a real reason to."

"I'd say you've got one now," Shadow said.

Knuckles nodded. "Alright, we'll all-"

A massive computer's screen behind him suddenly switched on to a static screen, the accompanying distorted sound all but screaming through the room, making everyone cover their ears. After a moment, the static faded and left Zeta's face with the city as a backdrop, vied from above, like the top of a skyscraper.

"Shadow, I trust that you can hear me, since I'm hacking every screen on the planet using a satellite, but incase you can't, I'll entrust on of Shadow's friends, I don't care which, to pass along the message," Zeta said. "I've been ordered to finish what we started. Phase three of my Master's plan has begun, and it's time for you to die. I'm waiting for you in Metropolis. Come and face me, alone. And I suggest you hurry." The camera swung around to Blaze, bound, beaten, and bloody, her clothing torn and tattered, and kneeling on the edge of the building. "I don't think that landing on her feet will save this kitty at this height."

Then, the screen switched off. Shadow turned to leave instantly, only for Sonic to catch his arm.

"You can't go alone!" Sonic said.

"I have to!" Shadow snapped, batting his hand away. "If I take anyone with me, Blaze dies! It's my fault she was captured by sending her on her own, and I won't watch her die again!"

"Again?" Sonic asked, only for Shadow to turn, Rouge stepping in front of him.

"You're not coming," Shadow growled.

"I know," Rouge said, cupping his face. "Be careful, please."

Shadow nodded and Rouge kissed him for a moment.

"Bring back our girl, okay?"

Shadow nodded and Rouge stepped out of his way, Shadow taking off instantly. He focused, recalling how it had felt in his dream, and tapped into his Chaos Energy. Except, instead of red, white-blue energy shone from his body. He lifted off the ground, streaking through the air faster than he could run, and smiled slightly. Maybe he _could_ beat Zeta. He shot through the air rapidly, eyes scanning the Metropolis skyline as soon as it came into view. Finally, he spotted them, on top of the tallest building, a massive one with plenty of room for their fight. He focused, pushing his energy and sped up, flashing across the distance before finally flipping and landing on his feet and left hand between Blaze and Zeta.

"You made good time," Zeta said, eyeing the energy coursing over his body. "And you've gotten better at control."

"Are you okay Blaze?" Shadow asked, looking back at her.

"Shadow!" Blaze smiled, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You came!"

"Of course I did," Shadow smiled, turning and untying her. "You're not the only one who cares."

Blaze threw her arms around him, sobbing into his chest, and he held her, gently stroking the back of her head comfortingly, watching Zeta carefully, making sure she didn't attack while Shadow was clearly not prepared. After a moment, Blaze pulled back and reached up, kissing him. Shadow smiled, kissing her back for a few moments before pulling away.

"Can you get yourself down?" Shadow asked.

Blaze nodded, standing. "Can you win?"

"We're about to find out," Shadow said. "Head back to the others. Rouge should be there with them. Tell Sonic to get started on his plan. He'll fill you in."

Blaze nodded and turned, leaping off of the building and launching fire out of her hands and feet, flying away in a blur. Zeta made no move to stop her, and Shadow turned to the echidna, readying himself.

"This fight will be different than our last," Shadow warned her, his Chaos Energy turning red as his anger replaced his desire to see Blaze safe. "You hurt someone I care about, this time. I won't let you walk away."

"Good," Zeta said. "Then maybe you'll provide me with a challenge this time."

Shadow shot forward, jumping and throwing a spin kick at her, only for Zeta to duck under it, then flip backward, slamming her foot into the underside of his chin, flipping him backward. He landed on his feet and deflected several of her punches before using his right shoe to launch his knee into her gut, lifting her before his left shoe sent a roundhouse kick exploding into her side. She shot away from him, spinning out into the open air. He narrowed his eyes, waiting. There was no way she was finished that easy. Sure enough, she rose a moment later with ionized energy shooting out of the bottoms of her feet like small blue flames, allowing her to hover. Shadow narrowed his eyes and exploded off the ground using his shoes' thrusters, meeting her in the air and drilling a right-handed punch at her, only for her to sweep it to the side before looping her arm around it, trapping it to her side before drilling three quick punches into his exposed right side before he roared in effort spinning and using his right arm to hurl her, slipping it out of her grasp as he did. She flipped, stopping herself just in time for Shadow to crash into her gut as a ball, sending her rocketing downward. She shot after her, focusing his Chaos Energy into an aura around himself, only for Zeta to flip out of the way, Shadow shooting past her. He flipped, stopping himself and turned in time for her foot to crash into his jaw, throwing him to the side. He flipped, channeling his Chaos Energy into his fists and exploded forward, Zeta moving to meet him, both hands compressing into blades. She crossed her arms in front of herself, then slashing at him across her body, but Shadow flipped over it, drilling a fist into her back, sending her exploding down into the ground.

He smirked, shooting down after her, only for a massive bolt of lightning to flash out of the dust, exploding into his chest and launching him skyward. He fell, crashing down hard, and rolled to a stop before Zeta shot toward him. However, as she neared him, he smirked, letting off a Chaos Blast and sending her hurtling backward again, though not doing much actual damage. He flipped to his feet and shot forward, Zeta moving to meet him. He flipped, sending a blast out of his shoes' front thrusters to flip him into a double axe kick, only for Zeta to spin around it, her right fist pulled back for an upper cut. Then, a short, yet powerful, blast of ionized energy exploded out of her elbow and her fist exploded into his side, launching him into a building and cratering it. He fell tot he ground with several pieces of debris and she charged. He grabbed a chunk of stone and hurled it at her, making sure to block her view, then shot to the side just as she punched the stone, sending it exploding back into the ground where he'd been a moment before. He shot toward her from the side but she jumped, ionized energy exploding out of her heel this time and sending her foot exploding into his head, sending him flipping and spinning away. He crashed down hard and rolled to his feet just as she reached him, her fist drilling into his jaw, once again boosted by ionized energy. Except this time, when he crashed into a building, she was there instantly, her punches continuing.

She rained punches on him continuously, staying back from him just far enough to give him room to bounce between her fists and the building. Shadow struggled to focus enough to control his Chaos Energy enough to shield himself, but it didn't matter. Even _with_ the energy, she was breaking his bones every punch. Finally, she flipped, slamming a kick into him from above, sending him exploding through the ground into the sewer. He shoved himself off instantly, fleeing through the sewer tunnels, only for her to catch him a moment later. He flipped over a punch, kicking her before launching himself after her in a ball. She rolled out of the way of his strike and flipping, slamming a kick into his gut and sending him bouncing along the tunnel. Then, just as he flipped into the air, she crashed into his gut, curled into a ball herself and with ionized energy screaming across her skin, sending him exploding back up to the surface. He flipped, crashing down hard, Chaos Energy fading, and she crashed down on top of him, one hand closing around his throat as the other compressed into a blade, which she pulled back, only to stop, staring at him.

The security feed she'd watched him through flashed through her mind, the security feed that she'd watched for close to an hour before he'd left the city, at which point she'd switched to a satellite. There had been no real reason for her to watch him for as long as she did, and yet, she hadn't been able to make herself stop. Just as now, she had no reason not to drive her blade through his brain, and yet, she couldn't. She tried to force herself to, and instead her arm shook and remained immobile, raised in position to kill him, and yet not descending an inch. Finally, she shouted in frustration, spinning and hurling him away from herself.

"Dammit, what's wrong with me!?" Zeta shouted, switching her hand back to a blade.

"Maybe you...recognize...right and wrong...after all," Shadow said, slowly pushing himself to his feet, holding his stomach and watching her warily. "We don't...have to be enemies...Zeta. You can...still join us."

"I will _never_ join you!" Zeta shrieked, yanking her left hand off. "I _hate_ you!"

A bolt of lightning exploded into his torso and he shot backward, crashing into a building, grunting and coughing up blood before dropping to the ground and coughing up more. As he managed to get to his hands and feet, Zeta's foot crashed into the right side of his ribs, hurling him, only for her to speed past him and drill a punch down into that same side, cratering the ground with his body. Then, she flipped backward, watching him as he slowly pushed himself up, staggering toward her.

"Why won't you just die!?" Zeta shrieked. "Why can't you just let go!?"

She shot forward, slamming a punch into his throat, sending him staggering backward. Then, she followed it with an uppercut to his solar plexus, just below his ribs. He staggered backward, gasping and wheezing, his head spinning and spots flying in front of his eyes. He stepped forward and threw a punch and she brushed it aside, slamming a fist into his jaw, then the center of his sternum, over his heart. He staggered backward, gasping in another breath and blinking, getting a split second of clear vision and launching himself at her, throwing another punch, much faster this time, only for her to duck out of the way and slam a punch into his side, specifically his liver. As he turned, she delivered a left hook to his jaw, cracking it, then a right to his solar plexus again. His body shut down almost entirely, but she wasn't done. She slammed a hook into each side of his jaw, breaking the right side the rest of the way, before grabbing his head and yanking it down into a knee.

He flopped backward, crumpling to the ground finally, and she glared at him. However, after a moment of breath wheezing out of him, white-blue Chaos Energy radiated from him around his head, healing his jaw and waking him back up. He groaned, slowly pushing himself up, swaying dangerously as his brain threatened to switch off again. Then, he staggered forward.

Zeta again shrieked in rage and annoyance. "Just die already God dammit! What does it take to kill you!?" She began to beat him senseless once again, all technique gone as she slammed her strikes into his body and face over and over. "Why won't you just get out of my head!?"

Finally, she jumped and slammed a reverse spinning kick into his forehead, throwing him back, only for him to once again slowly drag himself to his feet, only barely staying there. Blood flowed out of his nose and mouth freely now, his right eye was swollen shut and filled with blood, and a slit in the eye itself allowed it to drain so that it didn't pop out, resulting in tears of blood running down the right side of his head, and his left arm broken in multiple places.

"If...you want...me dead...kill me," Shadow panted. "Don't...beat me...Just stab me."

Zeta's eyes widened for a moment before she launched herself forward with ionized energy from her feet, slamming another reverse spinning kick into his forehead and sending him crashing to the ground before dropping on top of him, grabbing him by the throat with her left hand and forming the other into a blade, as she had earlier. However, as with earlier, her arm began to shake as she tried to force the blade down into his brain, remaining where it was. Zeta grit her teeth, shrieking in frustration and slamming a punch into his jaw.

"Stop fighting it!" she shrieked.

"I'm...not," Shadow said weakly. "I thought...you wanted...to...kill me."

Tears of frustration began to leak down Zeta's cheeks. She lowered her arm, her blade shifting back into a hand, and Shadow watched her for a moment before lifting a hand and setting it on her shoulder. Zeta folded forward, pressing her face to his chest, ignoring the blood matting his fur, and began to sob out of frustration.

"Why can't I do it?" Zeta sobbed. "I w-was created to kill you, so w-why c-can't I?"

"You weren't," Shadow said, Zeta sitting up slightly and looking down at him in surprise, managing to regain some measure of control. "I don't...know who...created you...but...you weren't...created...to kill me. If...you were...you'd have...done it...last time. Mephiles...can't be...trusted."

"Then what should I do?" Zeta asked. "Fight him?"

"Not...alone," Shadow said. "Sonic...and the others...will look after...you."

"What about you?" Zeta asked.

"I'm going to...be busy," Shadow said, looking off to his right where there was another Shadow, this one formed out of crystal, it seemed, with pale blue where Shadow's fur was red, black hands tipped with white claws, dark purple flames rising off of the ground around his feet, and glowing eyes with red sclerae and yellow irises.

"Mephiles!?" Zeta gasped, staggering away, eyes wide with surprise and fear. "I...I can't do it, Master. I can't kill him. I don't know why."

"Yes, your programming _is_ rather resistant to my control," Mephiles said.

"My...programming?" Zeta asked.

"That's right," Mephiles said. "As Shadow so astutely informed you, after being beaten to Death's door, you were never actually created or programmed to kill Shadow the Hedgehog. You were created to be the ultimate defender of Mobius. However, Before you could be completed, your dimension began to collapse after one of its more deranged inhabitants used the dimension's Chaos Emeralds to erase it. You sent through a portal created with a dozen false Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald of your dimension to this one, along with your core, an invention that made use of the DNA of the Sonic of your dimension and a fragment of the Master Emerald to generate infinite amounts of energy, granting you your powers and life. All I had to do when I found you, was put your battery in. Then, when you awoke, you began to attempt to kill me, sensing my evil intentions thanks to the Master Emerald fragment, so I used my power to take control of you, erasing your memories of our short battle. And you've been an invaluable aid since then, gathering me power and strengthening my control over you, each time with me erasing your memories of your missions."

"You...you've been...controlling me?" Zeta asked. "All this time? You were..._I_ gathered your power?"

"That's right," Mephiles said. "You gathered me the power of Dark Gaia, the Time Eater, and the last remaining Phantom Ruby. And after each mission, I wiped your memory, killed anyone who saw you, and now, here we are. I must admit, I never expected you to actually serve me for this long. Of course, like I said, each time you brought me more power, my control over you grew stronger. Still, I suppose facing your own creator _is _a bit much to ask."

"My own..." Zeta's eyes widened.

"I'm...what?" Shadow asked, slowly pushing himself up to his knees.

"That's right," Mephiles smirked. "The one who created you in your dimension was none other than Shadow himself. Yours was more genius than fighter, so he created living weapons, androids, who were to help your dimension's Sonic defend Mobius."

"But that's...so then..." Zeta's eyes fell to Shadow, who tried to stand, only to collapse again. "Shadow...I'm...I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine," Shadow said, slowly pushing himself up again, this time managing to regain his feet. "Get going. Find Sonic and the others. I'll...keep him busy."

"Bullshit!" Zeta said. "You can barely stand! How will you fight him!?"

White-blue Chaos Energy shone from his body, healing him in seconds before Shadow inhaled slowly, lifting off the ground with the Chaos Energy.

"Anger allows my red energy, which is useful for attacks," Shadow said. "And fighting to defend someone allows my blue energy, which heals and shields me. It wasn't just because I was slow that I allowed you to continue beating me to a bloody mess this time."

"You needed to get used to controlling the different energies in battle!" Zeta realized.

"Exactly," Shadow said. "Now, go."

"No," Zeta said firmly, using her own powers to lift into the air beside him. "We'll fight him together. He can't beat us both."

"Don't be so sure," Shadow said. "But okay. Together it is."

Mephiles laughed, spreading his arms invitingly. "Come then. Let's see what two separate dimensions ultimate weapons can do together."

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Mephiles

"He should be back by now," Rouge said, she, Blaze, and Omega all sitting in the G.U.N. HQ waiting for Sonic to get back from going to reinforce Shadow. "With the two of them together, there's no way she could win, right?"

"No, she couldn't," Blaze said. "But maybe..."

"Don't say it!" Rouge said, eyes widening. "You _know_ what that would mean!"

"I know," Blaze sighed. "But Rouge, _you_ know that it's entirely possible."

Rouge's eyes began to water and she wiped her tears away instantly.

"I can tap into a satellite to monitor the battle," Omega suggested.

"Really!?" both women gasped. "Do it!"

Omega turned to the computer, typing on the keyboard for a moment before bringing up a video feed of Metropolis. What they saw made both women's eyes widen and Rouge almost burst into tears, both unable to look away.

* * *

Shadow bounced off the roof of a skyscraper before flipping and catching himself, glaring at Mephiles as he deflected and blocked Zeta's strikes rapidly. Then, he flipped, slamming a kick into her and sending her flying. Multi-colored energy began to gather in Mephiles' hand only for a massive wall of blood red energy to explode into his side from Shadow, sending him flying. However, when he stopped himself, he was unscathed. He chuckled darkly.

"Why Shadow, whatever is the matter?" Mephiles asked. "The last time I fought a Shadow, his attacks held more power than mine. Don't tell me you're actually this weak now."

"If my strikes are mosquito bites to you, then I'll keep biting you until you've got no blood left!" Shadow growled, launching himself off the roof with his shoes.

Mephiles laughed, red energy washing over him for a moment as the world around them distorted, flashing red several times, then changed. Massive clouds of blood red squares shot toward them in long trails, and half a dozen Metal Sonics appeared around Mephiles, all of them launching themselves at shadow, who was struggling to keep ouy of the way of the odd red clouds. The first reached Shadow from behind while he was distracted, only for Zeta to reach it, energy exploding out of her elbow and drilling a punch into its head, crumpling it and sending it into one of the red clouds, the entire thing erupting into an explosion of red squares before they all faded, taking the Metal Sonic with them. Shadow spun, blasting two of the Metal Sonics with an aimed Chaos Blast just before two caught his arms and the third crashed into his gut head first, launchign Shadow downward. Shadow flipped, stopping himself just before Zeta crashed into his back. He flipped, catching her bridal-style and looked back, seeing Mephiles holding a glowing purple sphere over each hand.

"Get them," he said, the three Metal Sonics each shooting down at them, gold Chaos Energy suddenly surrounding them.

Shado spun, hurling Zeta at the side of the skyscraper beside them before launching himself at the three Metal Sonics, curling into a ball. He crashed into two of the three at the same time and a Chaos Blast exploded off of him, obliterating the two he hit and hurling the last. Zeta shot past Shadow instantly, slashing both of her blades across her body and bisected the last Metal Sonic up the middle, passing between his halves just before they exploded. She flipped stopping herself just as Mephiles reached her, swinging the two purple spheres at her from the sides. Before they could hit, Shadow flashed up between them, glowing with a white-blue aura, and pulled Zeta out of the way, removing her hand for her and flipping her to face Mephiles before returning time to its normal flow.

"Fire!" Shadow instructed, Zeta instantly unleashing a bolt of lightning into Mephiles' head, the explosion sending him streaking down into the ground.

Before he could hit, a massive cog appeared in the air behind him, darkness swirling inside of it, and he passed into it, a second suddenly in the air above Shadow and Zeta, allowing Mephiles to drop out of it, flipping and slamming a kick into both of them, sending them exploding into the ground. Both stood, groaning, just as three Mephileses appeared around them. Shadow could instantly tell they weren't just shadows and jumped, sending a burst out of his right shoe's front thruster as he linked his arm with Zeta's, Zeta using a blast of ionized energy to copy him, their windmill kicks spinning them in a circle, deflecting the three Mephileses' hands, the purple spheres they were holding speeding away in three separate directions before exploding. Then, the other's foot connected with the three crystal hedgehogs' jaws, snapping their heads around backwards, only for all three to fade before they hit the ground.

Shadow and Zeta stopped spinning and turned to the real Mephiles just as he began to laugh.

"What's so funny, Mephiles?" Shadow asked.

"Your mind is just so much fun to explore, Shadow," Mephiles grinned. "Allow me to give you a bit better a taste of the Phantom Ruby's true power. Not a full helping, but a decent indication."

Suddenly, the world began to distort and flash red again, the air around Mephiles blurring. Then, it darkened and Shadow blinked, rubbing his eyes, which felt irritated all of a sudden. When he opened his eyes again, he was staring at the robot from his nightmare, complete with its dozens of tentacles, machine guns, and the spikes on its back.

"What is that thing!?" Zeta gaped.

"A huge fucking problem," Shadow growled. "How fast can you fly?"

"Very," Zeta said.

"Good," Shadow nodded. "Don't slow down for a second."

Then, he took off in one direction, Zeta in the other. It became obvious, immediately, which the robot was targeting. Shadow swore as he flipped and spun, dodging around the robot's tentacles, fists, and bullets as fast as he could. His feet felt warm and he glanced down at his shoes. He had never pushed them so hard before. He wasn't sure if they'd handle the strain. They weren't exactly built for sustained flight.

He turned back to the front in time to swear, crossing his arms in front of himself just before a tentacle slammed into him, sending him streaking backward. Then, the robot's fist connected with his entire body, sending him exploding into the ground. Shadow groaned, rolling onto his back just as a bolt of lightning slammed into the robot's back, sending it staggering forward one step. Shadow focused, tapping into his white-blue energy again, then pushed himself up, breathing heavily and noticing his wounds healing at a crawl compared to earlier. He wasn't going to be up and about much longer. Once he was healed enough, he took off, speeding along the ground at the robot's feet while it focused on Zeta, who was spinning and dodging around tentacles, slashing them off when she could, only for the air where the rest of it should be to blur, then become clear again, leaving the tentacle reformed.

Shadow jumped, flipping and landing on the side of its leg, speeding up it rapidly, then jumping onto a spike. Just as he landed on it, a bolt of lightning exploded into the robot's chest. Shadow turned to tell Zeta to target its head, only for Blaze and Rouge to land on either side of him.

"No," Shadow said.

"Yes," Rouge said. "We've talked it over and...we prefer a more...living boyfriend. I think I'm going back to flirting with knuckles."

"And Silver suggested a wonderful date," Blaze smirked.

Shadow swallowed hard, feeling his control slipping slightly. He leapt off of the tentacle, grabbing the tip of another and swinging up around it, only for Rouge's foot to explode into his chest, sending him exploding down into another spike before Blaze's foot crashed into his side, flames flying out of her heel. He crashed into another spike just in time for Blaze, now encased in fire, to crash into him, pinning him and grinning wickedly as her flames began to burn him slowly, despite the white-blue aura trying to resist it. Finally, he managed to get a foot out from under hers and slammed a push kick into her chest, throwing her backward before flipping backward and leaping off of the spike. Rouge flew up into his path and he squeezed his eyes shut, curling into a ball and bouncing off of her, throwing her backward into Blaze before he uncurled, landing on a spike and switching to red Chaos Energy, exploding forward at the robot's head. However, before he could get there, Blaze's fire-enhanced kick, and Rouge's own super-strong kick both swung around at him from the front, before he could react, exploding into him and sending him exploding backward into one of the spikes. Rouge instantly crashed down on him with both feet, shattering his ribs, which began to heal instantly, only for Blaze to reach him, beginning to rapidly rain flaming punches down on him.

He couldn't fight back. He had to use all of his strength to control his Chaos Energy. However, before he could worry about it, Zeta slammed a kick into Blaze, then grabbed Shadow and leapt away just before a wall of tentacles slammed into the spike, hitting Rouge and Blaze on the way.

"No!" Shadow shouted, staring wide-eyed at the pair, impaled several times over, only for them to fade, along with the robot itself.

Shadow's eyes widened before he sighed in relief. It wasn't really them. They didn't hate him. Anger flooded him at the thought of Mephiles toying with his emotions. He pushed off of Zeta, taking flight for himself again, just as a Mephiles slammed into each of them, curled into a cannon ball of solid gemstone. Both crashed into the side of a building and a Mephiles again crashed into each of them, cratering the skyscraper still further. Then, the two crystal hedgehogs began to rain blows into the pair rapidly. Shadow's Chaos Energy failed almost instantly, leaving him entirely at the mercy of the Mephiles pummeling him. However, just as he began to dance on the edge of consciousness, a shining ball of fir and energy crashed into his Mephiles, then into the other, launching both, both of them fading before Sonic landed on the edge of the building above Shadow and Zeta, catching both and pulling them up, Zeta standing as Shadow lay helplessly on the ground.

"Man, this guy really _is_ strong, huh?" Sonic asked, staring at Mephiles, now hovering in the air over a hedgehog about Sonic's height with messy blue fur, pointed teeth, claws, fluffy white fur around his hands and the ends of h quills white. "This is going to be a rough one."

"If we beat him here, his plan ends," Zeta said.

"Oh, my plan won't end so easily as that," Mephiles laughed. "Come Sonic the Hedgehog. Let's continue, shall we?"

Sonic's eyes narrowed before he shot forward, sliding under the odd-looking hedgehog's suddenly stretched arm before leaping off the ground directly in front of it, curling into a ball and crashing into its face, bouncing into the air, only for a massive blast of white-purple electrical energy to explode out of a sphere of similar energy Mephiles suddenly had between his hands. Sonic exploded into the side of a skyscraper behind him, shattering the building and causing it to begin to fall. He Shot out of the way, then shot along it, launching himself off of it in a homing attack at Mephiles, only for the other hedgehog to suddenly leap up in front of him, slamming a hand into him and sending him exploding down into the street far below him, Sonic remaining motionless as the dust settled.

Meanwhile, Zeta was struggling to fend off another Mephiles. She blocked strike after strike, barely able to keep ahead of him, before transforming her hand into a blade and driving it up into his side, barely getting a few inches into his crystal body, though it seemed enough, since the Mephiles faded instantly. Then, the other hedgehog's fist expoded into her, sending her spinning out into the open air. She flipped, catching herself, but the flames coming from her feet were sputtering, and as soon as she was over the roof of the skyscraper, she collapsed. The hedgehog shot forward, pulling his claws back, only for Shadow to slam a fist into its side over its kidneys, the shining red Chaos Energy coating his fist exploding into a beam of energy, the beam drilling straight through him before he faded. Shadow sighed, turning to Mephiles just in time for Blaze and Rouge to both punch him in the face before sweeping his legs. He crashed to the ground and they began to pummel him again. He managed to curl into the fetal position, unable to force himself to fight them at all. Then, Zeta stepped up over him, her blades slicing through the two women easily, both fading before Mephiles slammed a kick into her back, blasting her into the roof of the building beside Shadow.

Mephiles laughed just as Sonic flipped over the edge of the roof behind him, rocketing forward in an aura of blue energy, only for Mephiles to burst into a cloud of smoke on impact, the real one crashing down on Sonic's back as a cannonball of crystal before bouncing and uncurling himself, laughing again.

"Look at you," Mephiles laughed. "Mobius's greatest hero, the ultimate weapon, and the ultimate lifeform, all of you laying helpless before me. He spat. You're all pathetic. I'll allow you to cling to your pathetic lives for now, if only to see the despair on your faces as you realize the futility of your struggles when I complete my plan."

Then, he transformed into a cloud of smoke, fading.

"Fuuuuuck," Shadow groaned, rolling onto his back. "We never had a chance. I feel as pathetic as Tails."

"That's a little harsh," Sonic groaned, pushing himself up. "Tails _is_ a genius."

"I think you did great, Shadow," Zeta said.

"Don't patronize me," Shadow grumbled.

"I mean it," Zeta said. "For being half-dead at the beginning, you did exceptionally average."

"I fucking you," Shadow grumbled.

"You two sound like you're dating," Sonic snorted.

"No," Shadow said flatly.

"What, I'm not good enough for you?" Zeta smirked.

"Don't you fucking start," Shadow grumbled. "She comes from a universe where I'm a shit fighter but a super-genius, basically Tails-"

"Again, kinda rude," Sonic said.

"-so instead of fighting, that shadow created a bunch of androids to fight for him, and she was the most powerful one," Shadow said. "Of course, now that she knows I'm an alternate version of her creator, she seems to feel like that gives her the freedom to be a fucking smartass. Fucking androids. Every single one of them have attitude problems."

"Uh, Shadow?" Sonic said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Sonic, I know that includes me," Shadow said. "Fuck off and go find the Chaos Emeralds so that we can fight Mephiles without dying next time."

Sonic chuckled. "The others should have them all soon. Then Knuckles and I will head to Angel Island and use the Master Emerald to enter Hyper Mode and we'll all meet up wherever Mephiles is."

"Somehow, I doubt it'll be that easy," Shadow groaned, just before Rouge and Blaze landed beside him, both clearly worried. "Hey girls. Glad you're not trying to kill me."

"We would never!" Rouge said.

"I know," Shadow sighed. "Threw me for a loop though."

Blaze sighed, smiling and gently wiping some blood from his lip, then wiping it on the ground. "You look almost as bad as me, now."

"You should have seen me before I healed to fight Mephiles," Shadow snorted. "Speaking of, allow me to properly introduce Zeta, now free of Mephiles' control. Apparently an alternate dimension version of me created her."

Zeta stared at the ground. "I...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything I've done."

"Well, we saw you fighting alongside Shadow, so we know you're on at least his side, now," Rouge said.

"But that doesn't mean you're forgiven yet," Blaze said. "You have to earn that."

Zeta nodded.

"But thank you for keeping Shadow alive," Blaze said, smiling as Zeta looked up at her in surprise.

"We couldn't have bared to lose him," Rouge said. "Thanks to you, we didn't."

Zeta smiled and nodded. "I promise to do anything I can to help and to earn your trust."

Both women nodded and helped Shadow up, the five of them heading back to G.U.N. HQ where the others were supposed to meet them with the Chaos Emeralds.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Resting

Shadow sighed, sitting on his bed and resting his face in his hands. He hated waiting. Especially knowing how powerful Mephiles was. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to try to find Mephiles, or the Chaos Emeralds, or both. However, he knew there was nothing else he could do right now, so he had resigned himself to waiting. The only bright spot in the otherwise bleak situation was that he wasn't waiting alone.

"It'll be alright," Rouge said, sitting on one side of him, Blaze on the other. "Everyone's going to get the stones and be back before you know it."

"That's right," Blaze nodded, reaching over to cup his cheek, turning his head toward her. "And in the mean time, you've got us to keep you company. Rouge and I talked about it, and I don't mind sharing you with her, as long as she doesn't try to take you and run off."

Shadow smiled. "I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am about that." His smile faded a bit. "But I don't know if now's really the best time to be thinking about our relationship."

"I beg to differ," Blaze said. "I think now's the perfect time."

"Right now, there's nothing else that will take precedence over us being together," Rouge agreed. "Which means we're free to shower you in as much affection as we want."

Shadow smiled, then sighed. "Fine. If you two are so dead set on doing this, I'll just have to find a way to live with it."

"Mhm, keep talking, tough guy," Blaze smiled, kissing him. "We'll see if me and Rouge decide to continue including you."

"Is there a downside to getting to watch the two of you make out?" Shadow asked.

Blaze rolled her eyes before kissing him again, longer this time. As she did, Rouge slid around behind Blaze, reaching around her and cupping the cat's petite breasts. Blaze moaned softly as Rouge began to massage them and Shadow pulled back from his kiss with Blaze, kissing Rouge over her shoulder as he pulled his gloves off, leaving his rings on, and slid his hand down to the axis of Blaze's thighs. Blaze gasped in surprise before moaning a bit louder. Shadow felt Rouge's tongue trail across his lower lip and granted her access, only for the door to suddenly hiss open. He pulled back from the kiss instantly, looking over at the door, his hand still between Blake's legs. Zeta stared at the three of them in surprise, now dressed in a red jacket and pants with a gold zipper and belt, gold glooves, and black on her pants around her hips, ass, and crotch. As she stood there, unmoving, she seemed like a deer in headlights, too shocked to do anything but stare.

"No, it's alright, you're not interrupting anything," Rouge said sarcastically, seeming to snap Zeta out of her surprise.

"Oh, good," Zeta said, closing the door and walking into the room. "I actually wanted to talk to you, Shadow."

"We're busy," Shadow said. "Come back later."

"I want to talk about it now," Zeta said.

"And I don't," Shadow said.

"Well, too bad," Zeta said. "We need to talk now."

"Fine," Shadow sighed, taking his hand back from Blaze finally. "What's so important?"

"Mephiles isn't after anything in this dimension," Zeta said. "I told you before that I thought he was trying to get to another dimension. Well, I was right. He's trying to reach a dimension that has something unique, something he can't get in this dimension. Something that he needed all of the power he has to acquire."

"What?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know," Zeta said. "And I'm not sure which dimension it's in."

Shadow nodded. "Alright. Well, if you figure that out, let us know."

Zeta nodded, then hesitated for a moment before leaving, casting a glance back at Shadow just before the door closed. Shadow sighed, laying back on the bed.

"Something unique," he mused. "That doesn't narrow it down in any way. Wonder how she figured out that much."

"You know what I wonder?" Blaze asked. "Why you're thinking about her and Mephiles right now."

Shadow smirked, shaking his head slowly before grabbing her and pulling her over on top of him. She gasped at the sudden movement before smiling and leaning down, kissing him, their tongues beginning to slide against one another's instantly. As he did, Blaze quickly shed her coat, revealing her bare, petite breasts and stiff, light pink nipples, which Shadow's hands covered almost instantly. Blaze moaned, pulling back from the kiss and arching her chest into his hands. He moved his lips to her pulse point, pulling another moan from Blaze's lips just as he felt Rouge's hands start to pull Blaze's pants down. He glanced down and his eyes widened slightly, seeing Rouge was already free of her own clothing, allowing him a perfect view of her hourglass figure, massive breasts tipped with dark nipples just as stiff as Blaze's, and her glistening lips.

Rouge grinned as she saw his hungry gaze on her body and spread her legs, giving him a better view, all the while working Blaze's pants off of the cat. Finally, they came free and Rouge leaned down, beginning to lap at the cat's folds, Blaze moaning loudly, her hips beginning to rock against Rouge. Shadow grinned. Either she was sensitive, or Rouge was amazing with her tongue. Maybe both.

He pulled back from Blaze's neck, rolling her onto her back before moving off of her as Rouge returned to working her folds, Blaze clutching at Rouge's head, moaning and mewling loudly. Shadow watched for a few minutes, loving the show, then lay down, sliding his head between Rouge's legs, the bat making plenty of room for him, then moaning appreciatively as his own tongue found her dripping folds. He worked her folds diligently, her salty juices and the earthy musk of her arousal sending his instincts into overdrive. Within seconds, his extra appendage was standing proud and ready, awaiting its turn to be of use.

Shadow reached up, pushing a finger into Rouge's tunnel and the bat cried out in pleasure, rocking her hips against his finger as he slid it in and out quickly, his tongue and lips focusing on her clit. As her orgasm began to build, her voice began to falter, her moans and cries steadily growing more frail and desperate. Conversely, as Rouge rapidly worked Blaze's own orgasm closer, her cries grew in volume, easily drowning out Rouge and likely carrying outside the room, not that Shadow cared. He redoubled his efforts, speeding his hand up until his finger was a blur inside of Rouge's tunnel and Rouge pulled away from Blaze's nethers instantly, eyes wide with surprise and rapture, gasping in breaths and seeming unable to make a sound. She reached out for Blaze and Blaze relented, flipping around and kissing Rouge, her own hand working her desperate folds.

"No finishing yourself off, Blaze," Shadow said, Rouge groaning at the loss of contact with her clit and snatched blaze's hand away from her starving snatch.

Shadow chuckled at Rouge's reaction and returned to pleasuring her. Rouge's kiss with Blaze quickly began to grow more frenzied and sloppy until Rouge finally snapped, shaking and trembling above Shadow, clutching at Blaze's hand as though to keep herself grounded. Blaze pulled back from the kiss, watching Rouge orgasm hungrily, also eyeing Shadow's erection. Finally, Shadow eased Rouge down and flipped her onto her back, moving up and kissing her for several long seconds before leaving her to bask in her afterglow. He looked up at Blaze and motioned her over and she all but scrambled to him, practically hurling herself into a desperate, lustful kiss.

Shadow chuckled, indulging her for several long moments before gently laying her beside Rouge, kissing her again before kissing his way down her body. He stopped briefly to toy with her nipples, but she moaned needily and pressed her hands into the top of her head, so he continued downward, reaching her absolutely drenched slit in moments. She cried out in pleasure the moment his tongue met her obviously hyper-sensitive flesh and he grinned, beginning to quickly work her into a frenzy, all the while keeping her from orgasming yet. He had enjoyed tasting Rouge, but Blaze's arousal smelled sweeter, and her juices were a little less salty, so he found himself almost craving her taste. He'd never admit it to Rouge, since he didn't want her to feel jealous, but he definitely liked Blaze's taste more.

After a few minutes, he finally decided he'd tortured Blaze long enough and locked his lips around her clit, sucking harshly and flicking it with his tongue using his super speed. And just like that, Blaze was shrieking in orgasmic bliss, jerking and spasming, clinging to his head as she came. Shadow cleaned up the flood of her juices her orgasm released diligently, holding her hips in place as he did. Finally, she began to work her way back down to Earth, and he moved up, kissing her, Blaze moaning hungrily, albeit weakly.

"That was...amazing!" Blaze panted. "I didn't know...it'd be so...intense."

"You didn't..." Shadow's eyes widened as Rouge pushed herself up to stare down at the cat.

"You're a virgin?" Rouge asked, Blaze nodding weakly. "Oh that is not allowed. You're going first."

Shadow glanced at her and she nodded, smiling. He smiled, pulling her into a kiss, then pulled back and leaned down, kissing Blaze again as he lined himself up. "Are you ready?"

"Be gentle, please," Blaze said.

"Of course," Shadow nodded.

Blaze kissed him again, and he began to push into her slowly, pausing whenever she flinched, working his way into her inch by inch. It felt tortuously slow for Shadow, his entire body, and every instinct he had, fighting tooth and nail to just ram himself into her and go to town. However, he ignored his body and instincts' demands, going as slow as he could manage until he was finally seated inside of Blaze fully. Her face was contorted in pain and discomfort, so Shadow didn't move, trying to pull himself back under control. She was almost painfully tight, and he felt like he had to struggle in order to keep a tight hold on himself or he might slip up and fill her just from trying to pull out again.

Finally, Blaze looked up at him, lust once again clouding her eyes, and nodded. He began to move carefully, beginning slowly and keeping his movements restrained. He set a slow, smooth rhythm, bending down and capturing one of her nipples to help distract her from the discomfort so she could adjust faster. Just as he did, Rouge captured Blaze's lips, one of her hands beginning to massage Blaze's free breast. After a couple of minutes, a soft moan escaped Blaze's lips and Shadow began to speed up, keeping his strokes long and smooth, but picking up the pace slowly. When Blaze didn't begin to seem like she was in pain, or tell him to slow down again, he began to speed up a little more, still not moving fast, but faster than he was.

Rouge's hand slid down Blaze's taut stomach and began to play with her clit and Blaze moaned loudly. Rouge pulled back from the kiss and Blaze tilted her head back, her previously muffled moans quickly echoing through the room.

"Faster!" Blaze pleaded.

Shadow needed no further urging, rapidly picking up the pace, hilting himself into Blaze over and over, Blaze's moans quickly growing into cries of pleasure. Rouge turned her head and Shadow released Blaze's nipple, meeting Rouge for a hungry kiss. He smiled. He could tell the slut was desperate to cum again. He pulled back and motioned for her to mount Blaze's head, so she did. She swung a leg over Blaze's head, positioning herself over the cat, and opened her mouth to ask her to make her cum, only for Blaze to immediately and hungrily attack the slutty bat's drenched slit. Rouge cried out in surprise and pleasure before it turned into a deep moan, the bat's eyes sliding closed and her head tilting back. Shadow picked up the pace some more, leaning forward slightly for better leverage and beginning to worship Rouge's voluptuous breasts.

Blaze proved to be quite skilled, apparently, because within four minutes, Rouge was cumming again. And yet, Blaze continued, pleasuring her straight through her orgasm. Shadow smirked. Apparently Rouge wasn't the only slut in the room. He grit his teeth as he felt himself growing dangerously close to his own finish line. He began to alternate between deep, smooth thrusts and quick shallow ones, and Blaze began to come undone instantly. Her hands clutched at Rouge's thighs and she began to shriek and wail in pleasure, even while continuing to lap at Rouge's slit. Then, finally, just as Shadow's will snapped, Blaze suddenly began to spasm again, wailing in pleasure as her insides clenched and spasmed almost as violently as her body did, rapidly milking every drop out of him.

After a few moments, both of their orgasms ended and Shadow slipped out of her as Blaze fell limp, Rouge moving out of the way and allowing Shadow to kiss Blaze, bringing her back to reality. Blaze whimpered slightly as she shifted, kissing Shadow back with as much passion as she could manage.

"I love you," Blaze said as he pulled away, her eyes watering . "I love you so much."

"I love you too," Shadow smiled, kissing her again. After a few seconds, he pulled away and turned to Rouge, who lay down and spread her legs, grinning.

"No need to be gentle with me," Rouge said. "I want it hard and fast."

"Of course you do, slut," Shadow said, shifting over to line himself up with her.

Rouge smiled. "Only if it's for you or our horny kitten."

She flashed a grin at Blaze who blushed. Shadow smirked and rammed himself into Rouge's thoroughly lubricated tunnel, instantly beginning to fuck her as hard and fast as he could, his hips moving in a blur as Rouge wailed and moaned in pleasure, her hand gripping his forearms tightly. As he fucked her, Blaze rolled over, kissing Rouge, who kissed her back instantly, the kiss starting off hungry, but slowing down somehow.

"I love you too," Blaze said. "I'm glad you were willing to share."

"Ah! M-Me...t-too!" Rouge cried out, one of her hands working her own clit. "I love you-ah!-too, Blaze! Oh fuck! Yes!"

Shadow grinned down at the bat. "You must be in heaven right now. You're making as much noise as Blaze did."

"Oh God!" Rouge cried out. "Yes! It's so good! Oh fuck, I'm close!"

"Blaze, would you mind?" Shadow asked.

Blaze smiled knowingly and moved Rouge's hand out of the way, replacing it with her lips and tongue as Shadow leaned back to give her room. Rouge cried out in pleasure, and within seconds it proved to be too much. She bucked and shook, her voice once again failing as she came, her insides undulating and spasming, milking Shadow's member. He tried to hold himself back, but within a few more seconds, he erupted into her just as she was starting to come down from her orgasm, only for his seed filling her to set her off again. Finally, he slipped out of her, his member softening again and shrinking as he lay between the two girls. Rouge reached over, kissing him, and he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her.

"That was amazing," Rouge smiled. "I love you."

"You mean you love my dick," Shadow corrected.

"That too, but I mean it," Rouge said. "I really do love you. I have for a long time. It started back when you saved me that first time."

"I honestly didn't do that for you," Shadow said.

"I know," Rouge said. "But you _did_ save me. And I _do_ love you."

"I love you too," Shadow smiled, kissing her.

After a few second, he pulled back a Blaze cupped his cheek. He turned his head, taking the arm on Blaze's side back from Rouge and snaking it under Blaze, pulling her tight against him as well a he kissed her too. After a few more minutes of going back and forth between all three trading kisses with each other, they finally all settled with the two girls' heads on Shadow's shoulders and went to sleep.

* * *

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	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Reinforcements

Shadow stirred to the feeling of two sets of lips kissing the sides of his neck. He smiled instantly as he opened his eyes, both girls lifting themselves up and smiling down at him.

"Good morning," he greeted them.

"Good morning," both replied before taking turns kissing him.

"What are we up to this morning?" Rouge asked.

"Shower first, breakfast second, then we'll see," Shadow said.

Both nodded and climbed out of bed, heading toward the shower together and both casting an expectant, hungry look back at him before stepping into the bathroom. Shadow sighed and stood, shaking his head. They were going to be a handful. But he would never complain. He was too happy to have them both for that. So, with that thought in mind, he followed the two of them into the bathroom, joining them in the shower and chuckling as he found they had not, in fact, waited for him before starting.

* * *

Shadow sighed as he finished his pancakes, leaning back in his chair as Blaze and Rouge finished off the last of their own. The others were apparently avoiding the three currently, which Shadow had no problem with, so they had the kitchen all to themselves. He looked around as the coffee was finished and stood, walking over and pouring it into three cups.

"Cream and sugar?" Shadow asked.

"No thank you," Rouge smiled.

"Two of each, please," Blaze said.

Shadow mixed Blaze's coffee, then carried both of theirs to them before returning to make his, using about four of each in his. Rouge laughed as he walked over.

"Who would have known the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't handle strong coffee?" Rouge teased.

"I can handle it just fine," Shadow said defensively. "I just prefer it sweeter."

"I understand," Blaze smiled, Shadow smiling gratefully at her. "Everyone has to be a pussy about somethings."

Rouge howled with laughter as Shadow's face turned scarlet and he crossed his arms scowling. After a few moments, both girls walked over and wrapped their arms around him, kissing his cheeks.

"We're sorry," Blaze said.

"We were just teasing," Rouge said. "Forgive us?"

Shadow sighed. "Fine."

Both girls smiled, kissing him, then returned to their seats, sipping at their coffee, Shadow doing the same. After a few seconds, Sonic walked in, eyeing the trio for a moment before grabbing a convenience store chilidog from the fridge and putting it in the microwave.

"I'm heading to Angel Island to meet with Knuckles today," Sonic said. "Would you mind checking in with the others?"

"Sure," Shadow nodded. "Good luck on your trip."

"Thanks," Sonic said.

He ate his chilidog quickly, then left the facility. Shadow walked into the living room with the other two, all three still drinking their coffee, and found Amy, Charmy, and Cream in what passed as the living room. All three blushed as the three entered, but Shadow ignored them, instead walking over tot he computer. He picked up one of the headsets, a type specifically designed for non-humans to use by using vibrations against some of the bones in their skull rather than sound, and pulled it on, using the computer to connect it and called Zeta first.

"Hello?" Zeta asked.

"Where are you?" Shadow asked. "I thought you were staying at the facility to rest."

"I left the facility to see if chilidogs were really as good as Sonic kept insisting," Zeta said.

"Oh," Shadow said. "Well, I suggest you try a cheeseburger from that diner over on Court Street. It's called Highway Fifty Five."

"Will do," Zeta said.

Rouge tapped Shadow's shoulder, and when he looked, she and Blaze both raised a hand.

"Can you bring three back with you, too?" Shadow asked, rolling his eyes at them.

"Sure," Zeta said.

"Thanks," Shadow said. "Be careful, alright?"

"You too," Zeta said, Shadow disconnecting.

He called Tails next, but all he got was explosions, Tails screaming, then saying he was okay and could handle it.

"Is that what he normally sounds like in a fight?" Shadow asked.

"Pretty much," Blaze nodded.

Shadow shrugged, calling the others who were sent out. Silver had already gotten his two Emeralds, Knuckles had collected two and was on his way to Angel Island, Vector had collected his one, Espio had one, and Tails would collect his soon, if he actually _could_ handle whatever he was up against. Of course, that was a big if.

"Maybe we should call Tails again," Shadow said.

"I'm sure he's fine," Blaze said.

Shadow hesitated for a moment. "I'm going to call him again."

He sent the call, but after several seconds the computer reported it had failed to connect. He tried again with a similar result.

"Yeah, that's not good," Rouge sighed. "Where was he heading?"

Shadow checked the map and sighed. "White Jungle."

"That's not too terribly far," Rouge said.

"Yeah," Shadow sighed. "I'll head over there myself."

"You're not going alone," Blaze said.

"I'll have Zeta meet me there," Shadow said, calling her.

"Hey, I just got to the diner," Zeta said.

"Change of plans," Shadow said. "We need to go pull Tails' ass out of a fire. Can you meet me at the White Jungle?"

"Sure," Zeta said. "I'll head there now."

"Thanks," Shadow said, then disconnected and sighed, turning to Blaze and Rouge. "Wait for me?"

"Always," Rouge smiled, kissing him.

"Don't make us wait too long then," Blaze said kissing him. "Otherwise we might decide that we like each other more than you."

"You're evil," Shadow said, kissing her before pulling away and leaving.

He looked around for a moment once he was outside before taking off through the city. He had never really understood why most of the roads in the city included loops, or gaps, but it made using the roads a hell of a lot more fun. He sped through the city rapidly, expertly avoiding potential obstacles and reaching the city's exit within minutes. Then, he started away from the city, heading toward the White Jungle. Even with his top speed, he was a couple hours away. So, he began to try to call Tails while he ran. Nothing. He called Zeta. Also nothing. He swore. This wasn't going to be very good after all.

* * *

Shadow knelt in the trees on the edge of the jungle, listening. He was just barely able to hear two voices somewhere in the jungle, thanks to his extra-sensitive hearing. He was able to make out Zeta's and a deep one he didn't recognize, but which sounded familiar all the same. He focused, trying to catch what they were saying. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but it sounded like the second voice was looking for something, or maybe someone, and Zeta was refusing to tell them.

Shadow stood, looking around before spotting a fallen tree that he could run down. He back up, then leapt to it, landing on top of it and speeding forward. He shot down the tree in a blur, then up a branch, which had broken open and rotted into a sort of tunnel. It bent and curved, then ended in a ramp and he shot up it, flipping and continuing to run on a chunk of bark that was hanging from several giant roots, the bark flipping as he ran on it, ending up with him facing the correct direction and allowing him to launch off of it just as it began to fall to the ground. He shot through the air before landing on another fallen tree, following it to several branches, taking one of them and following them along. Just as he reached the end of that one, he leapt off of it, catching a vine and swinging forward before the vine hit a branch, wrapping up around it before swinging back down and slingshoting him through the jungle.

Finally, he flipped, landing on a branch overlooking a gigantic stump about a hundred meters across. Below him, Tails was lying beside a destroyed hunk of metal that was once his walker mech, and Zeta was standing between him and their attacker, except she was hurt. She was covered in bruises and scrapes, and her left arm was holding her right side.

"I'll give you one more chance, Zeta R02, tell me where Shadow the Hedgehog is," their attacker said.

He looked sort of like a hedgehog, except that he had no fur. He had grey flesh with some red. It was red around his eyes, then in two stripes that ran up from his forehead in a "V" before running back along the top of two of his four spines, then red on the tips of the other two, red around his wrists like sleeves, each of which had a small, one-inch spike on it that curved back toward his elbow, then a larger one about three inches long just behind it, and he had red around his ankles and the back halves of his feet with similar curved spikes on his calves, one spike per leg. He had two pointed toes per foot, two fingers and a thumb per hand, each of which were tipped in a claw, a long, devil-like tail tipped in red, a red mantle-like shoulder ornament that stuck out to the sides and had a spike reaching a couple inches down his chest, and had yellow irises with black sclera.

Shadow watched as the freaky monster hedgehog began forward, flexing his fingers in preparation to use his claws. However, before he could get to Zeta, Shadow launched himself off of the tree, curling into a ball an streaking down into the freak's back, launching him sideways. The freak flipped, driving his claws into the wood and skidding to a stop, glaring at Shadow.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked.

"My name is Eclipse," the freak said. "Ultimate creation of Black Death."

"Who?" Shadow asked.

"The successor of Black Doom, who Shadow the Hedgehog killed," Eclipse said. "Now, what are you?"

"Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow said.

"Nice try, but the real Shadow the Hedgehog isn't some pathetic Android," Eclipse said.

"Well, I'm the real Shadow now, so you'll have to deal with it," Shadow said, red Chaos Energy flowing over his body for a moment, only to fade as Eclipse grinned. "What the...what did you do?"

"While we fight, we exist in _my_ world, and you will die by _my_ rules," Eclipse smirked. "You won't be using your Chaos Control, or any of your other powers, for as long as I'm your enemy."

"Is that right?" Shadow asked. "Alright, fine then. I'll just take you down without them."

Eclipse grinned and both shot forward. However, when Shadow threw a punch at Eclipse, Eclipse suddenly glowed red and snapped his fingers, a small Chaos Burst going off and crashing into Shadow, launching him. Shadow flipped, landing on a branch and took off instantly, sprinting along branches, leaping between trees, and continuously moving, keeping Eclipse from targeting him with any ranged blasts.

"So, you can block mine while still using yours," Shadow mused as he ran. "Not bad. That'll be a bitch to beat. But not impossible."

He suddenly sped up, going as fast as he could and leaping off of a branch, catching a vine and swinging around a tree to slingshot himself at Eclipse from behind, using a blast from his shoes to go even faster before curling into a ball and crashing into Eclipse. Just as Eclipse landed, he set off a Chaos Blast, but Shadow flipped over the blast wave and launched himself away with his Air Shoes, resuming his run. Then, he flew at Eclipse from the front. Eclipse set off another blast, but Shadow bounced on the tree in front of him, slowing just enough for the blast to end before Shadow exploded into Eclipse. Eclipse pushed himself up, snarling in rage, only for Shadow to crash down on him from above, bouncing back to the tree and leaping to the left before blasting off of that tree and once again crashing into the alien hedgehog.

This time, when Eclipse landed, he took off, speeding after Shadow as Shadow took off into the trees again. After a moment, Shadow flipped as Eclipse crashed down where he had been, bouncing to his feet as they ran alongside one another. Eclipse smirked, then flipped, kicking at Shadow, only for Shadow to leapt off the branch they were on, immediately launching himself back into Eclips with his shoes, crashing into Eclipse's back, launching him. Eclipse flipped , landing on his feet and exploding off of the tree at Shadow, who met him head on, both bouncing off onto a pair more trees. Eclipse shot down his to a branch heading for Shadow. However, as he launched himself at Shadow, Shadow suddenly shot around his tree, causing Eclipse to crash into it and bounce before Shadow arrived from his lap around the tree, swinging a branch thicker than either was tall around. The branch crashed into Eclipse and sent him flying out into the open air before Shadow took off, crashing into Eclipse rapidly and pinballing him around the trees for a moment before streaking down at him from above. Before he could hit again, Eclipse roared, sending out a Chaos Blast and launching Shadow backward into a tree. Shadow flipped upward instantly, allowing Eclipse to explode into the tree before Eclipse sped up the tree after him. Eclipse used his Chaos Control to launch himself up at Shadow, but Shadow grabbed a vine, taking off just before Eclipse could hit him. Then, his vine hit a tree as Eclipse began to chase him along a branch and whipped around it, Shadow being flung back at Eclipse and crashing into his face directly with three times the force of a cannonball, sending Eclipse exploding through several branches and into the side of a tree, cratering it.

Shadow dropped to the stump, landing beside Zeta, who stared at him in awe. "Are you alright?"

"You're incredible!" Zeta gaped. "How did you do that? I couldn't even tough him!"

Shadow shrugged. "I don't allow anyone to hurt the people I care about and get away with it."

Zeta smiled and nodded, hugging him. Shadow hesitated a moment before hugging her back, a bit awkwardly. After a moment, they pulled back as Eclipse landed before them again, this time holding a sword with a jagged purple blade with the center of it hollow, and a lighter purple grip. Shadow growled in annoyance.

"I refuse to lose to you!" Eclipse snarled. "I came all the way to this dimension to kill a Shadow, and I will _not_ be returning a failure!"

"Wait, _this_ dimension?" Shadow asked. "You're from another? Which?"

Eclipse glared at him for a long moment before his eyes widened slowly. Then, his mouth curled into a wicked grin. "Oh, so _you're_ the one. But you're obviously a failure. I mean, really. _You're_ supposed to kill my master? _You_? You're not even worthy of returning to my master's dimension."

"To...Who are you!?" Shadow demanded.

Eclipse laughed as his sword's blade dissolved into the handle and that dissolved into his hand. Then, a purple sphere formed behind him and he stepped backward into it, the sphere shrinking out of existence instantly. Shadow stared where it had been for a long while before sighing.

He began to turn to Zeta and Tails, who was still unconscious, only to catch Zeta as she suddenly collapsed. He glanced down her body to scan for injuries and spotted the problem instantly. It wasn't a broken rib she'd been holding before. It was a gash in her side, which had purple blood slowly leaking out of it. He swore, lifting her and running to tails, kicking him three times before he stirred.

"What happened?" Tails asked.

"Zeta's been poisoned," Shadow said. "Where's the Chaos Emerald?"

"That alien had it," Tails said. "He was as fast as Sonic."

Shadow swore, glancing down at Zeta. She didn't have several hours to run back, and he couldn't control his Chaos Energy to slow time the entire way back to the others.

"Are there any plants around here that help with poison?" Shadow asked.

"Uh..." Tails tried to think. "A few, yeah. Wait here. I'll be right back."

Shadow nodded, and Tails took off just as Zeta winced, stirring and looking up at him. "Don't try to move. You've been poisoned."

"His...tail," Zeta said weakly, moving her hand back to her side. "Did you...get the Chaos Emerald?"

"Tails says Eclipse had it," Shadow said. "Which means he just left for my dimension with it."

Zeta sighed, nodding slowly. "I was...afraid...that was the case." She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes, smiling slightly. "They're lucky."

"What?" Shadow asked.

Zeta smiled tiredly, shaking her head, her eyes fluttering again, trying to close as her head began to bob. "It's cold."

"Hold on," Shadow said. "Tails is trying to find herbs to help with the poison."

"Hold me," Zeta murmured, barely awake, or maybe talking in her sleep. "It's...so...cold."

Shadow held her against him, looking around for Tails. Finally, Tails returned just as lightning flashed overhead, rain beginning to pound down around them. Shadow cursed and lifted Zeta, streaking down the edge of the stump, Tails just behind him, and into a hollow under the roots of a partially over-turned tree. He gently set Zeta down, the android shivering now, face contorted in discomfort and pain. Shadow looked to Tails, who handed him a bowl of green paste, which he had crushed the plants into. Shadow quickly applied it to Zeta's wound and she groaned miserably, but didn't flinch away or cry out in pain like she should have.

"She needs to warm up," Tails said.

"Then you'd better find a different try to take shelter under," Shadow said, giving him a look that left no room for argument.

He knew how Zeta would react to Tails seeing her nude. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He also knew how Tails would react, immature, shy child that he was. Tails seemed to agree because he left instantly. After a moment, Shadow quickly took Zeta's jacket and pants off, unsurprised to find she had nothing on under it. Once she was out of her wet clothes, he used his speed to quickly rub her dry before laying beside her and pulling her against him. She curled into him instantly and he looked down at her, seeing her contented smile, despite the pain that still had her brow furrowed.

"Warm," she exhaled. "Thank...you."

Then, she was asleep again. Shadow gently ran his hands up and down her back to help keep her warm, and closed his eyes, silently praying to whatever deities he could think of that she'd survive, and hopefully not beat the shit out of him in the morning when she woke up and realized their position and state of dress.

* * *

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	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

New Plan

Zeta stirred slowly, eyes fighting to stay closed before finally relenting and sliding open, allowing her to look around slowly, groggily. She didn't immediately react when she realized that she had no memory of passing out, or being moved, or any that would explain why she was naked and cuddled into Shadow's chest. She pushed herself up slightly, staring down at his sleeping face for a moment before reaching down and checking her side. There was a crushed herb paste coating her wound, but when she gingerly brushed it away, she saw that the paste was a dark purple, and that the edges of her wound were slightly darker than they should be, though the wound was done blooding, and was starting to heal. She gently shook Shadow awake, and he looked up at her for a moment seeming to slowly be registering the situation before looking away from her.

"You saved me again?" Zeta guessed.

"Tails found the herbs," Shadow said.

"And why am I naked and laying with you?" Zeta asked.

"You needed to warm up, but it rained and you needed to get out of your wet clothes first," Shadow explained.

"I see," Zeta nodded, glancing at the wet clothes lying off to the side. "I'm not really very excited to put those back on yet." She sighed, slowly forcing them only her body, the wet clothes clinging to her body uncomfortably. "Alright. I'm dressed."

Shadow glanced at her before sitting up and looking around the tree. It was long-since done raining, and they needed to get back to the others.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and assume we didn't get the Chaos Emerald?" Zeta asked.

"That alien, Eclipse, took it," Shadow said, standing. "He's in my original dimension now. We need to head back to the others."

Zeta stood, catching his hand, making him look back at her. "I...thank you for saving me, again. I'll find a way to repay you sometime, somehow."

"You don't need to," Shadow said. "I did it because I wanted to. There's something...unique about you. You spent the majority of the time I've known you trying to kill me and hurting the people I love, but I don't want to see you hurt."

Zeta nodded, smiling, then followed him out from under the tree until they found Tails waiting. Together, the three of them left the forest, running back toward the others, since Shadow's headset was ruined by the rain.

* * *

"This is...probably the worst case scenario," Sonic said after Shadow had finished filling everyone in on the situation. "So...what do we do? Without that Chaos Emerald, we can't use our super forms, or our Hyper forms. How do we win now?"

"I might be able to make another fake Chaos Emerald," Tails suggested.

"No," Shadow said. "It'd take too long. Our only chance is to chase him."

"But Shadow..." Sonic hesitated. "This dimension we're going to isn't just any other dimension. If what you say is true..."

"I know," Shadow said. "But what choice do we have? We _need_ that Chaos Emerald to deal with Mephiles, and if you and I fight Eclipse together, we'll beat him. Chaos Control or not."

"And his mysterious master?" Knuckles asked.

"Yes, what about them?" Silver asked.

"Mephiles is the priority," Shadow said. "If the master becomes a problem, Sonic and I will deal with it, and anyone who is able can help if need be."

"We _do_ need to stop Mephiles getting whatever it is he wants," Tails said after a long silence. "But we need to be ready."

"How?" Shadow asked.

"We need one day of rest," Tails said. "For everyone. Tomorrow, everyone with a Chaos Emerald can teleport here with it, and Knuckles can bring the Master Emerald. Then we can use one of the Emeralds to teleport ourselves to Shadow's world. Then we'll do what Shadow said."

"Do we really have a day to rest?" Sonic asked.

"We'll have to," Shadow said. "Tails is right. We need to be rested for this fight. I'm not. Zeta's not. Tails definitely isn't. We need one last rest."

"Alright," Sonic sighed. "One last day. We'll meet up at G.U.N. HQ at eight a.m. tomorrow morning."

Everyone agreed and disconnected, Shadow sighing and setting his headset down. He turned to Rouge and Blaze, who both smiled and took his hands.

"We were worried when you didn't come back right away," Rouge said.

"I've fought tougher enemies," Shadow said. "I'll be fine."

"We know," Blaze said. "But we were still worried."

"Thank you," Shadow smiled. "Come on. If we're resting for a day, I want to do it laying in bed with my two beautiful girlfriends and watching mindless cartoons."

They both laughed and nodded, following him out of the room toward his bedroom. As they reached the door, Shadow paused, seeing Zeta standing beside it.

"What's up?" Shadow asked.

"I...Can I go with you?" Zeta asked. "When you go after the Chaos Emerald? I...I have a really bad feeling about it, so...can I go with you?"

"Sure," Shadow nodded. "I was kind of hoping you would. You're so much better at fighting than me that it's terrifying. I could use the help."

Zeta smiled and nodded. Then, she hugged him before leaving for the room they were letting her use, which usually belonged to Rouge. Rouge and Blaze gave Shadow a suspicious look but he shook his head.

"I have no idea what that was about," Shadow said. "Now come on. Cartoons are calling."

Both girls smiled and nodded and they headed into the room, closing the door behind themselves.

* * *

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	13. Chapter 13

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

The Battle Begins

Shadow remained silent as he watched the others preparing themselves. They had gathered all of the available Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, however, even with the Master Emerald present, it wasn't enough for anyone to access their Super forms. So instead, they were preparing themselves, physically and mentally, for the worst, a fight with Mephiles without the Emeralds. Sonic was counting out his entire collection of gold rings, which Shadow still wasn't sure where he kept, or how they somehow made him stronger, since they were, in fact, just rings. However, he'd seen their effects on him first hand during the time between arriving and exploding the first time and starting this entire shit show of a train of events, so he didn't say anything. At Knuckles' suggestion, they had all agreed to prepare to use lethal force against Mephiles. As such, Knuckles had put on metal gloves with extended metal spikes over his and a bronze helmet and was holding a pair of war axes with gold designs on the side and two small spikes off their edges. Sonic had put on a metal glove on his right hand and had held his hand out the window for about a minute before a sword had suddenly flown over to it with a double-edged blade and a ring at the guard with the guard's arms reaching out of it, then the blade and grip attached to the top and bottom of it. His sword apparently was also alive, because as soon as he caught it, one side of the guard suddenly had a face that began to yell at him for not coming to get him for hundreds of years. Silver had gotten a face mask with six stretched diamond slits arranged in a semicircle, a pair of metal gloves with the same glowing blue circles as his normal gloves, and a sword with a blade that looked like a jumbo-sized spearhead. Blaze had gotten a silver helmet with three wavy horizonal slits, a blue gemstone embedded in the top of the face shield, a pair of armored gloves, and a rapier with a golden bell guard. Finally, Sonic had given Shadow gear that was apparently the original Shadow's, consisting of a silver face mask with six vertical slits for him to see through then armor that ran along his top center spike, three red diamonds marking the forehead of the helmet, an silver chest plate and pauldrons with white metal in a "V" around his neck, a pair of armored gloves that he put under his rings, then a sword with a half-leaf-shaped blade, a gold hilt with a small spike on the front curved downward, a small spike at the base of the hilt, a row of gold scale-like plates running down the back of the blade, and a diamond-shaped design on either side of the blade about two thirds of the way along it, both designs having something like a Celtic knot of some kind in them.

"So...where the hell did we get this shit?" Shadow asked.

"A while ago, I went back in time, though, it was using a story book as a medium, and fought King Arthur and Merlin," Sonic said. "There was a medieval version of everyone with gear there, even you. A little while before the last Shadow died, we had a fight we needed to go lethal for, but the thing was able to heat up bullets inside their magazines, so we couldn't bring guns. So instead, I found all of the medieval versions' tombs and gathered their weapons and armor."

"And yet, you just now got your own sword back for the first time?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I fought the battle using Super mode, so I didn't need the sword," Sonic said.

"What were you even fighting?" Shadow asked.

"The Black Arms," Silver said. "Under the leadership of a particularly nasty new leader, who was even more ruthless than Black Doom. There was no retreat, so we ended up fighting them to the death. We wiped them out."

"How?" Shadow asked. "Wasn't there a full comet of them?"

"There _was_," Sonic said. "But I blew up its core and ended the battle."

Shadow shook his head. "That's surprisingly ruthless of you all. I'm impressed."

"It was Shadow who decided we had to wipe them out," Sonic said. "He convinced us that the fight wouldn't stop if we didn't."

Shadow shrugged. "Whatever. I don't particularly care. This will come in handy against Eclipse. Mephiles, not so much."

"Still, it's better than punching him," Blaze said.

"True," Shadow sighed. "Somehow, things suddenly seem a lot more...dire, now that we're holding deadly weapons."

"You use deadly weapons all the time," Rouge said, looping her arms around his neck. "Are you afraid?"

"For you two," Shadow said, wrapping the arm not holding his sword around her. "I know I'll be fine, but I don't want anything to happen to either of you."

"We'll be okay," Rouge smiled. "We can take care of ourselves."

"I know," Shadow said. "I just..."

"We know," Blaze smiled. "We love you, too."

He smiled, giving them each a kiss before Espio and Vector, the last of the people they'd be taking, finally arrived, and Tails finally powered up the bipedal walker he'd been inspecting for the last thirty minutes.

"Alright, we're all ready," Sonic said, picking up one of the Chaos Emeralds. "Now, to find Eclipse."

"I'll do it," Shadow said, taking the Emerald.

"That's a bad idea," Sonic said. "You're not as practiced with it as the last Shadow."

"That's true, but it's _my_ dimension we're traveling to," Shadow said. "Practiced or not...I can find it."

Sonic was silent for a moment before nodding. Shadow raised the emerald, but just as his eyes began to shimmer with white-blue chaos energy, images began to flash through his mind. Red and dark grey aliens. Blood. Fire. A comet. Guns. Swords. The images began to grow more complicated and detailed as they also sped up. Battles. Places. Deaths. Panic and fear shot through Shadow quickly and he suddenly couldn't breathe. He fell to his knees, hand clutching the emerald hard. Then, suddenly, a swirling portal formed under him and he fell through, the portal remaining open. Rouge, Blaze, and Zeta all dove through instantly, all of them having been about to try and take the Emerald away from Shadow and make sure he was okay. Sonic and the others grabbed the Chaos Emeralds and jumped into the portal and it sealed behind them.

* * *

"Can you do this Shadow?" Sonic asked nervously. "I mean...This is a big ask."

"Yes it is," Shadow nodded, watching as the giant black robot that had been slaughtering their forces for the last half hour stomped toward the giant elevator that had been built for it, one which would take it back to the interior of the fort. "But I'm the only one who can do it. If I don't stop this here and now, everyone will die. He cannot be allowed to win."

"Alright," Sonic nodded. "Then you go inside and we'll stay up here and keep them busy."

"Take care of Rouge and Blaze for me," Shadow said. "If I win this and end up alone, I'll find you and beat the shit out of you. And if you die with them, I'll piss on your grave."

"I won't let anything happen to them," Sonic promised. "Now go stop him before the generals return."

Shadow nodded and took off.

* * *

"Shadow!" Blaze shouted, Shadow gasping harshly and sitting bolt upright, mind still seeing the blackened land, stone spikes, and Black Arms army from his memory.

"Are you okay?" Rouge asked.

He sighed, nodding and rubbing his eyes, only to go rigid when he saw that what he was seeing remained unchanged. "What...Oh no."

"I think I have an idea about what happened here that ended with you going to our dimension," Rouge said as they stared out at the corrupted, infested world before them.

They were all on top of a mountain, the entire world around them blackened, scorched, and covered in Black Arms. there were millions of them. The entire world looked like a bigger, darker, war-scarred version of the Black Comet, except that he could see the comet in the sky above them.

"Did they... win?" Sonic asked.

"I don't...I don't know," Shadow said. "I can't remember."

"We need to find Eclipse," Silver said. "Whatever happened here, we need that last Emerald before Mephiles gets to whatever dimension he's going to."

"Uh...guys?" Blaze said. "I think he's already there."

She pointed up into the air where Mephiles was floating down toward the Black Arms, who were all watching him.

"What!?" Silver gaped.

"What is he doing here!?" Blaze asked.

"Zeta, do you know what he's looking for?" Shadow asked.

"No," Zeta said. "He just kept calling it his goal, or his objective."

Before them, Mephiles finally came within attacking range of the Black Arms, apparently, because the winged bat-like ones suddenly all swarmed toward him, only to be slaughtered by chaos spears erupting from his entire body at once. Several Black Assassins leapt at him and slashed, only for the world around them to distort, flashing red before clouds of red squares erupted off of him, enveloping the Assassins before expanding and clearing, leaving nothing behind. Then, Mephiles streaked downward in a blur, crashing to the ground hard enough to send out a shockwave that threw the Black Arms away and killed a dozen, plus one he'd landed on and flattened. Then, the world flashed red and he was suddenly holding a pair of single-edged swords with a guard that looked like the top of Shadow's head with a rainbow colored point on the pommel, then the blade black and extending off the top of the shadow-head guard, but with the edge being what looked like red crystal. Then, he was off, streaking around and around, his swords splitting the aliens rapidly. The aliens began to shoot at him and he flipped into the air, spinning and sending the sword tearing into the aliens, both swords spinning through several aliens before the world flashed and both exploded into massive clouds of red squares before fading at the same time as Mephiles was suddenly holding a rifle about as long as Shadow's sword, about three feet, with black along the top, a pink grip, and spikes sticking off of the top of the gun along the entire way along it.

Before the Black Arms could aim up at him, he opened fire, the gun switching back and forth between bursts and single shots too fast for Shadow to believe it was a selector switch. The shots also were balls of orange plasma and exploded into small balls of fire on impact, each just barely enough to kill the alien it hit and maybe another beside them. Within seconds, Mephiles had killed dozens of Black Arms and landed on the ground again just as the Black Arms parted, forming a path through them. Mephiles stopped, looking around for a moment before letting his gun disappear and walking along the path.

"We need to stop him!" Shadow said suddenly, seeing a cave ahead of Mephiles and feeling utter terror from just the sight of it. "We need to stop him now!"

"Let's go," Sonic said.

"Wait, there's someone there!" Zeta said.

They turned and Shadow's gut dropped as he saw Eclipse standing in the opening. He held an arm out toward the cave as Mephiles reached him, Mephiles passing him in silence before Eclipse followed him.

"I guess we know where we're going," Sonic said.

"We're dead," Shadow breathed.

"Why?" Sonic asked.

"I...I don't remember," Shadow frowned. "It's just...this feeling."

"Well, get over your feeling," Silver said. "We don't have a choice except to go into that cave."

Shadow nodded, clenching his sword tightly. He glanced at the cliff they were standing at. So far, all his memories had been accompanied by fear. So, maybe if he was afraid, he'd remember something. He took a deep breath before tipping forward and dropping off the cliff. He kept his eyes closed, and as he had hoped, the flood of adrenaline and fear he suddenly felt brought images he didn't recognize to mind. The same group he had now fighting the Black Arms using their natural abilities, and Aimee her hammer while Shadow and Rouge used guns. The others all splitting off to fight the army while Sonic and Shadow headed for the cave, which held the entrance to the facility where Shadow would end up fighting the giant robot. Then, he remembered the generals. They'd been waiting just inside the cave. There were five of them. Six if he counted Eclipse, but he wouldn't be in the fight with the rest. Shadow's eyes flew open as the identities of the generals filled his mind and he flipped, activating his shoes to slow himself before slashing a pair of Black Arms below himself and landing safely. Just as he did, a roar rang out from the Black Arms, spreading outward as two moved to shoot him, only for Blaze to crash down on one, stabbing it as the flames coming from her feet ended just before Rouge's foot crashed down on the other, flattening it. Then, most of the others crashed down on the aliens around them and the battle had begun.

"What the Hell were you thinking!?" Blaze demanded.

"Good job forcing us into a frontal assault!" Sonic snapped. "We could have-"

"The generals are here!" Shadow said urgently. "I just remembered when I fell! We can't win this!"

Sonic's eyes widened as several voices began to laugh from around them. The Black Arms all backed away and Shadow swallowed hard. The five generals all suddenly leapt out of the army and landed on the tops of five spikes spread in a rough semicircle around Shadow and the others. Everyone stared at them in shock. One of them looked like Shadow, but with his fur messier, a pair of red devil horns, a third eye on his forehead that had a red iris and a gold slit pupil in the center, clawed fingers, red combat boots, and four long black tentacles with red spikes for tips extending from his back. The next looked like Knuckles, but with most of his body the same dark grey as a Black Arms alien, red on the ends of his spines, then reaching into the black in spiderweb-like veins that only reached a few inches, massive claws for toes, two glowing yellow eyes that had no features in them, and his hands transformed into balls of flesh on the ends of his arms with his knuckle spikes extended, closer together, and looking to be made of bone. The third looked like Silver but with black flesh in place of fur, silver scales on the front of his torso like armor, entirely green eyes with slit pupils, two smaller identical eyes above his normal ones, a long tail ending in a dark grey point, digitigrade legs with long silver claws, and black claws on his fingers. The fourth was another Shadow, this time twice the height of the others with black and red scales covering his body, two clawed toes on the front of his feet and one on the back, small red spikes up the outsides of his calves near the back, red scales covering his feet, then slowly fading to black from the middle of his lower leg to his knees, claws on his fingers with a similar scale coloration as his legs, two curved spikes on the outsides of his forearms, a long, pointed tail with a barb on one side like the point of a fishing hook, a tuft of white fur on his chest just in front of his neck, white scales on his snout, yellow eyes with red irises and slit pupils, the spines on his head all covered in spikes the entire way along them, and a disgusted, unwavering scowl directed at Shadow. The last, looked like Sonic, except with black fur, his spines glowing orange, his torso and snout both red, his arms starting black at his shoulders, then fading to red from around his elbows, then two clawed fingers and a clawed thumb per hand, all of which were also glowing orange, two spikes on the backs of his forearms, angled toward his elbow, digitigrade legs that faded to red just below his knees, then had a pair of glowing orange claws for toes, black eyes with glowing orange irises and slit pupils, and a tail with a glowing orange barbed spike at the end, red for a few inches above it, and two small spikes at the top of the base.

"Why do they look like us?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh my God," Sonic breathed. "They _are_ us. Aren't they?"

"The versions from this dimension," Shadow nodded. "The generals aren't the versions of you. They're the parasites inside of them which mutated them into what you see, and which is controlling them. And no, you can't kill the parasite to save them. It's fused with their central nervous systems. Killing it will kill them."

"Oh my God," Rouge breathed. "So, then, why are there two of you?"

"I don't know," Shadow frowned. "Maybe one of them was the original I was made to replace. And the other might be a clone or something."

"How do we proceed?" Blaze asked.

"Carefully," Shadow said. "Anyone who has a doppelganger will fight them. Zeta, I'll need your help with my two."

Everyone that included nodded.

"Everyone else, try to keep the Black Arms busy," Shadow said. "Just be careful. Oh, and the most important thing for those fighting the generals. Once you kill them, and you _have to_ kill them, the parasite will come out to try and infect you. Don't let it."

Again everyone nodded.

"Are you done strategizing yet, failure?" the taller of the two Black Arms Shadows asked.

"Failure?" Shadow asked.

"You were made to replace the original," the shorter one explained. "However, in your war against the Black Arms, under command of the lower lifeforms that created you, you failed. We tried to improve you with Black Arms DNA, but your body was immune. The process caused your Chaos Energy to go out of control, however, so Lord Doom cast you out of this dimension. However, he believes you remain a threat, even as a failure, so we've been ordered to destroy you."

"I see," Shadow said. "Then I suppose that means I have a score to settle with Doom."

"You're not going to live that long," the taller one snarled. "Black Arms, crush them."

The army charged instantly, but this time, Shadow and the others were ready. They all shot forward, tearing into the army rapidly, spreading out a short distance as anyone who was assigned a general fought their way toward them. However, after a few minutes, the generals all vanished, leaving the Black Arms to deal with Shadow and the others. Shadow grit his teeth, spinning and slashing a circle around himself with his sword held in reverse grip, then looked around just as both Blaze and Rouge reached him, the others all heading for him as well.

"Why is everyone coming to me?" Shadow asked.

"You've become our unofficial leader, since we're in your dimension," Rouge said, jumping and kicking an alien away as Blaze stabbed one, then slashed another.

"Your world, your orders," Blaze agreed, just as Zeta slashed her way into the small circle around them with both her hands as blades before shifting them back to hands and stepping into the small circle they'd formed beside Shadow.

"What do we do?" Zeta asked.

"Kill them until the generals decide to come back out," Shadow said, looking around at the Black Arms, which weren't attacking. "Why are they just standing there?"

"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Zeta said.

Then, the ground below them exploded, the Black Bull erupting from below them, swallowing all four at once, the Black Arms turning to deal with the rest.

* * *

"Where is your master, slave?" Mephiles demanded after following Eclipse for nearly ten minutes in silence. "I will not wait for much longer. If he doesn't want me t-"

"We've arrived," Eclipse said, smiling condescendingly as he opened a door and stepped out of Mephiles's way. "My master is just inside. Oh, and don't begin to presume you know what my Master wants."

Mephiles scoffed, walking into the dark room. After a moment, the door closed, leaving the room in darkness, Mephiles only just able to make out a silhouette before him.

"I assume you've figured out why I'm here," Mephiles said.

The silhouette remained silent and immobile.

"I am here for the Black Comet's core!" Mephiles snarled. "You have a planet to call home, so you no longer need the comet. I could take it by force, but I believed it would be simpler to come to this universe where such methods would be unnece-"

"Silence!" the figure before him finally snapped, his three yellow eyes with red irises and slit pupils sliding open to glare at him, raised center eye's eyelid curved downward to allow the eye to glare as well, despite not having its own eyebrow. "You could do nothing! You came to this dimension to beg my comet's core because you are lack the power required to take it by force, and you believed that I would not care about it's loss! And you killed a few dozen of my drones as you believed such a pathetic display of what you believe to be power would intimidate me! If you were truly powerful, you would have wiped out the army in one strike! You would not have resorted to blades and guns as a way to conserve your power! You are not powerful! You simply have a few tricks that you stole from those who were truly powerful!"

Mephiles narrowed his eyes. "You dare to speak to me with such a tone!? Do you know who I am!? I'll crush-"

The figure before him raised a hand and an explosion of Chaos Energy went off directly in front of Mephiles, sending him exploding into the wall beside the door. "Raise your tone again, and the next explosion I cause will begin inside of your heart. I am not so weak that I would be impressed by you defeating such a paltry number of drones. Your display may impress the android created to replace Shadow the Hedgehog, but I am not so easily frightened. You shall receive nothing from us. Leave this dimension, or I will crush you."

Mephiles snarled angrily. "I have come too far to be refused! I _will_ have my prize! I _will_ gain the power I seek!"

He exploded off the ground at the figure before him, but he blinked and the eyes were suddenly gone, just before something exploded down on his back, cracking his crystal body and sending him exploding into the ground. He bounced once before his opponent exploded into his side, sending him crashing into the wall hard enough to crater it. He dropped to the ground, landing on his feet and roared in rage, firing a blast of energy at his opponent, only for his opponent to suddenly be standing in front of him. Mephiles shouted in surprise and flipped backward onto the wall, leaping off of it, only for his opponent to explode into his gut, sending him exploding into the ceiling before crashing back tot he floor. He began to stand, but his opponent swiped his feet out from under him, then slammed a kick into him as he was airborne, sending him once again exploding into the wall. As he stood this time, the world flashed red and several more Mephiles appeared, all of them forming a circle around their opponent and charging. However, when they reached him, he went ballistic, taking them all down in seconds without moving from where he was before ending up holding Mephiles in the air by the throat.

"What...are...you?" Mephiles choked out.

"As far as you are concerned, I might as well be God," his opponent said.

Then, he smashed him into the ground so hard cracks split open over Mephiles's entire body and left him unconscious.

The leader of the Black Arms stood, turning and walking back toward his chair. "Take him to the elevator room." He sat down in his chair, resting his right elbow on the arm rest before leaning his head on his fist. "If Shadow and his little friends make it inside, lead them to the this vermin so that they can destroy him."

"Of course, Master," Eclipse bowed.

"And Eclipse," the leader said. "Leave that Chaos Emerald with him. We have no need of it."

"Yes, Master," Eclipse bowed again, then lifted Mephiles by the top of the head and walked away, dragging him behind himself.

"Now, Shadow, let's see how you do," the leader mused, focusing on the Black Arms' hive mind to monitor his progress. "I hope you do not disappoint me again."

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Swallowed

Shadow groaned, pushing himself up and looked around. He was in a massive fleshy cavern, which he was relatively certain was Black Bull's stomach, except he didn't remember Black Bull being as big as the cavern he was in, let along big enough for it to be a stomach. His eyes swept around the massive cavern again, surveying what he had to work with. He was kneeling on a chunk of stone, his sword lying in front of him, and there was a green liquid filling the cavern that bubbled once in a while, and that he instantly recognized by the smell as bile. There were other chunks of stone, as well as other types of debris like chunks of buildings, cars, and even a few skeletons, scattered around the stomach, forming something like a city's ruin. However, he didn't see Rouge, Blaze, or Zeta anywhere. He groaned, using his sword to stand as his head spun.

"Rouge?" he called out, looking around. "Blaze? Zeta?"

When they didn't answer, he sighed heavily and looked around for the tallest piece of debris, finding part of a parking garage nearby that stood above most of the debris around him by about one story. It wasn't much, especially given the size of the stomach, but it was a good enough place to start. He began to jump from one chunk of stone to the next until he finally landed inside the parking garage. He made his way to the top quickly and looked around. Still nothing. There was no sign of any of them as far as he could see. He sighed, looking to one of the towers and began to head that way. He moved quickly, and after a few minutes, he reached the tower, quickly taking off into it at the base and using his speed to clear every room on every floor on the way up before reaching the roof and sighing heavily. Nothing. He walked to the edge and looked down, frowning again. Still nothing. He could see more of the debris field now, as well as under the bile, since it was fairly easy to see through, and they were nowhere in sight. He frowned. Did Black Bull maybe have more than one stomach? Or had they escaped when he was swallowed and he didn't realize it? He looked to the other towers. There were three more. He prayed that they were in one of them, but he wasn't very confident. He flew to the next with his shoes and began the same search pattern as before, this time making his way down. Nothing. He made his way to the next building and started back up. Nothing. He flew to the next, feeling what little hope he'd had before die down to the barest hint of existence. Sure enough, as he searched down through the last building, none of them were there. He stepped out of the building and onto a chunk of debris before sighing and pinching the inside corners of his eyes. Breathing in the fumes from the stomach acid was giving him a headache, as was his worry for the three girls' safety.

"Dammit," he sighed. "Where did you three go? If we all got swallowed, you should have ended up here."

He sighed, looking at each end of the stomach before deciding to start with the closer end. He reached the fleshy tunnel and grimaced as his feet sank into the flesh a couple inches with a wet squelch. He was probably going to end up vomiting by the time this was done. And he _definitely_ needed a shower. He followed the tunnel in silence, resisting the urge to start cutting the side of the tunnel open to see what Black Bull would do. That would come later, he was sure. Finally, he stopped as twelve more tunnels all connected to his, all of them merging into a massive tunnel that a skyscraper would probably almost fit through standing on end. He looked around at the others before taking a deep breath.

"ROUGE, BLAZE, ZETA! ! !" he yelled toward the tunnels.

After a moment, a high, piercing monstrous shriek answered, followed by several more. He crouched, waiting, and a moment later, a dozen creatures scrambled out of some of the tunnels, all of them looking like Black Infantry but with eight arms that they were scurrying around on, then their legs replaced by a scorpion tail and their faces replaced by a gaping maw of a mouth that could bite his head off in one go, and several rows of teeth lining their mouths. Shadow grimaced and shot forward, ducking past a tail and sliding under one of the creatures, slashing it along the underside. As he stood, the creature collapsed and the next leapt at him. He launched himself at it, curling into a ball and crashed into it, hurling it backward onto another before he hurled his sword, impaling them both. They collapsed and Shadow launched himself downward with his shoes, curling into a ball before crashing down on another, crushing it. Two of them leapt at him and he jumped, his right shoe's front thruster spinning him into a windmill kick, taking both of their heads off before he used the rest of that foot's thrusters to get out of their bodies' way. however, just as he landed beside his sword and ripped it out of the two dead aliens he'd killed with it, three stingers suddenly stabbed into his back at once. He staggered forward, collapsing, and looked back as the last six slowly stalked toward him. Then, Zeta crashed down on one, blades-first. She ripped her blades out, shifting them back into hands and pulled one off before blasting two of the creatures with ionized energy. She put her hand on as one of the last three leapt at her, only for her to flip backward, kicking its head and flipping the front of its body upward before ionized energy exploded out of her elbow, sending her fist exploding into its underside, sending it crashing into another and breaking that one's neck with a loud crack. Then, she turned to the last one and grabbed Shadow's sword, launching herself forward with ionized energy from her feet before splitting it in half as she fell toward it. She turned, dropping the sword and raced back to Shadow before beginning to inspect his wounds.

"Don't move," she said. "You're hurt badly."

"How can you tell?" Shadow asked sarcastically.

She ignored him, opening the front of her jacket, then pressing a spot on her abdomen. Instantly, her abdomen opened in four pieces that slid out of the way, revealing a chunk of shining green crystal, which was attached to a metal cylinder that led up into the metal roof of the compartment. His eyes widened as she took a steadying breath and gripped the crystal.

"Wait!" he said. "That'll kill you, won't it?"

She smiled. "It's the only way to heal you. I don't mind, if it saves you. I owe you everything. Even when I was trying to kill you, you protected me. Then you saved me after I lost to Eclipse. And you saved me from Mephiles's control, then convinced the others to let me join you. I owe you everything. And even if I didn't, I'd still do this."

"I don't care if the Shadow of your universe created you, I'm not him and you shouldn't throw your life away for me!" Shadow snapped, starting to feel cold, and his head, hands and feet starting to grow numb.

"It's not because of that," Zeta smiled. "I know you're not him. It's because I love you. You saved me, so I couldn't help but fall for you."

"Zeta..." Shadow's eyes widened, but before he could say anything else, Zeta took a deep breath and ripped the chunk of crystal out of her body, a cord that had been attached to it somehow breaking and sparking as the light on the side of the cylinder inside her began to dim.

She pressed the crystal into one of the holes in his back and Shadow shouted in pain before she collapsed beside him, still smiling, but staring lifelessly ahead of herself. Warmth flooded Shadow's body and his back suddenly began to tingle as his wounds sealed. Then, the chunk of crystal fell to the ground. He sat up picked it up, staring at the piece of cable that was attached to it, then at the opposite end attached to Zeta's power core. He reached in, twisting the cylinder experimentally and it turned, then slid down out of the slot it was in, allowing him to pull it out to inspect it. He couldn't see how to open it, but he could see that there was a single, huge wire inside the cable, but he couldn't reconnect them. His eyes widened. Blaze could, though. She could save Zeta. He just had to find her.

"Shadow?" Rouge's voice called out suddenly.

"I'm here!" Shadow called back.

After a moment, Rouge and Blaze both appeared from one of the lower tunnels, both gasping and running over.

"What happened?" Rouge asked.

"I got hurt and she ripped the piece of Master Emerald that was powering her out in order to save me," Shadow said. "Blaze, can you reconnect the cable?"

"I'll try," Blaze said. "But it's not going to be perfect. She won't be as powerful as before."

"That's fine," Shadow said. "Just save her."

Blaze nodded, watching him for a moment before taking the crystal and lighting her other hand's thumb and index finger on fire, holding the ends of the cable together until they had melted together. Then, she let the fire go out and continued to hold them together until they cooled after a few seconds before putting the power core back into Zeta. After a moment, she blinked, then slowly pushed herself up, looking around.

"You saved me?" Zeta asked. "How?"

"Not me," Shadow said. "Blaze melted the cable back together."

Zeta stared at her power core for a moment before pressing on her side, her abdomen sealing before she closed her jacket. "Thank you, Blaze. I owe you."

"It's alright," Blaze said. "I was repaying you for saving Shadow. Besides, you're our ally. Maybe someday a friend."

Zeta smiled, nodding. "I hope so." She looked around. "So, how do we kill this thing?"

"I'd go with the heart," Shadow said. "It should be up, in theory."

"Sure you can't just Chaos Blast it to death?" Rouge asked.

"I'm trying to save my energy for Mephiles," Shadow said. "At least for now."

The others nodded and Shadow retrieved his sword before flying up to the top of the tunnel and carving out a circle, getting drenched in blood in the process before climbing out of the tunnel and looking around. He could see the a huge field of what looked like organs in the distance, but he couldn't tell what was what. he rolled his eyes and beckoned the others up, allowing them to see the problem.

"Well, that settles it," Blaze said, lightning her free hand on fire. "We're destroying everything."

"Yup," Shadow agreed. "Let's make this quick."

They took off, all of them speeding along the outside of the massive flesh tunnel and mass of stomachs they'd been in. The creature, whatever it was, be it Black Bull or something else, was massive. Easily the size of a city. It's mouth could probably swallow half of Metropolis. So whatever ate them either grew a lot afterward, or gave them to something else.

Shadow saw Zeta cutting a stomach open and letting out the stomach acid, and it began to hiss and steam against anything it hit, so he did the same. As soon as he did, Blaze began to follow suit. Then, they passed the stomachs and quickly began to destroy everything else. Blaze used a combination of her fireballs and her sword, Zeta used her arms as blades, and Shadow used his sword and a couple of Chaos Spears, though he tried not to use many. Rouge simply kicked the organs and they burst like water balloons. Finally, after nearly ten minutes, the entire thing vibrated with a roar that was sounded muted to them, then fell, crashing to the ground hard. They all flew toward its mouth and carved their way into its mouth, flying out of it, and saw that the thing was, in fact, Black Bull, just much, much, _much_ larger than Shadow remembered. It had also crushed a massive section of the Black Arms when it fell. Shadow and the others all landed where they could see the others fighting, landing with them.

"You made it!" Sonic said, slashing a pair of Black Arms, then launching himself into a third and sending it crashing backward into more. "Nice going!"

"We thought you were dead for sure!" Knuckles said, splitting one alien up the front and burying his other axe in a second's head, then ripped it back out.

"Not quite yet," Shadow said, then stopped, looking back as his skin crawled beneath his fur, seeing the generals all walking toward them. "They're coming."

"Finally," Sonic said. "Guess they didn't like losing their pet."

"Then they should have kept it on a leash," Shadow said.

"We should go to meet them," Silver said.

"Agreed," Blaze nodded.

"Right," Shadow agreed. "Let's go!"

He sent an aimed Chaos Blast into the Black Arms to clear the way and they all took off, even those not assigned a general, tearing through the Black Arms at the end of the space Shadow had cleared and rapidly heading for the generals. The generals began to move to meet them, the Black Arms around them moving out of their way, and the moment the path finally opened, each of those assigned a general took off.

* * *

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	15. Chapter 15

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

War

Shadow sped past the Black Arms in a blur, flipping over his shorter doppelganger's tentacles, slashing at him as he fell, only for the doppelganger to knock his arm away, sending the sword spinning into a Black Arm's face. Shadow spun instantly, slamming a punch into the general's face and knocking him back a step before the taller one appeared beside him, moving to kick him, only for Zeta to crash into his side, launching him away. Shadow ducked as the general he was facing swiped at him with two of his tentacles again, then launched himself forward in a ball, crashing into him and knocking him away before uncurling and firing a barrage of Chaos Spears after him. The general flipped, spinning out of the way of the blasts before launching himself at Shadow with his tentacles. Shadow ducked under the general, spinning around the tentacles, then shot after him, grabbing his sword on the way past and slashing the general's tentacles off. The general spun, kicking him in the head and launching him before his tentacles regrew.

"You won't be able to beat me that easily," he warned him. "I'm a Black Arms General. I'm not so weak as to be unable to regenerate my primary means of attack."

Shadow huffed, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip before launching himself forward again.

* * *

Zeta Spun away from the taller Shadow doppelganger's fist as it swung down at her, cracking the ground. Then, she launched ionized energy from her left elbow, her fist swinging up into the general's face, sending him staggering away. She leapt after him, slamming a reverse spinning kick into his head and throwing him, only for his tail to lash out at her. She ducked under it and launched herself forward with her blue flames, pulling her fist back, only for the general's foot to slam into her chest, launching her away. She bounced off the ground, then spun upside down, both hands flattening into blades before she slashed a handful of Black Arms that were waiting to catch her, flipping onto her feet before turning and speeding back at the general again.

The general huffed, exploding forward faster than her and slammed a fist into her gut, lifting her off the ground up to level with his head. She slashed both arms across her body at him, but he leaned back out of the way, then flipped, kicking her and sending her exploding through the Black Arms.

* * *

Silver swiped a hand, hurling a ball of crushed-together Black Aliens at the general he was fighting, then shot forward behind it. As with everything else he'd hurled at the general, the general swiped a hand, his own powers deflecting the projectile to the side. However, as soon as it was out of the way, Silver crashed into the general, curled into a ball, then uncurled and slashed at him, only for the general to spin out of the way. silver spun in a clockwise circle, slashing at the general, only for the general to flip over it, his foot's claws tilting downward before he kicked Silver, sending him exploding into the ground. Silver pushed himself up, looking around for his sword, only to flip backward as the general exploded into the ground. Both swung a hand toward each other, chunks of the ground ripping free and crashing into each other. Silver moved to leap over the boulders, only for the general to flip up in front of him, kicking him and sending him exploding back into the ground. Silver flipped backward onto his feet just in time for the general to slam a kick into the right side of his head, throwing him sideways. He bounced and rolled along for a moment before rolling to his feet and skidding to a stop.

"You're stronger than I expected," Silver growled.

"You cannot defeat the Black Arms," the general said. "We are more powerful than a lower lifeform like you could ever comprehend."

"We'll just see about that," Silver snarled, exploding forward, along with a wall of debris.

He stopped short, swiping his hands and sent his dozens of projectiles flying at the general, who swung his hands outward and cleared it all. Then, before he could react, Silver exploded into the general's torso, sending him exploding into the ground hard enough to fracture it, his extra power coming from having thrown himself with his powers. The general stood, dusting himself off and nodded.

"Just as I'd expect from an alternate version of my favorite host," the general said. "Now allow me to show you the true power of a Black Arms General."

Suddenly, the ground below Silver exploded. Silver deflected the debris as it shot up toward him, but it surrounded him, then all shot back inward. Silver shouted in effort, forming a barrier of his powers around him. The debris all shattered against it and Silver sighed, letting the barrier fade, only for the last boulder to crash into his back, then flip, streaking down into the ground and exploding into the ground, shattering Silver's ribs before the general hurled it away, leaving Silver lying in the crater the boulder had formed.

* * *

Knuckles bounced off the ground hard, his helmet spinning away, then launched himself at the general, swinging his two axes, only for the general to backhand both of Knuckles' arms, sending the axes spinning away, then punch him in the gut, his spikes once again leaning outward just before impact, allowing him to punch knuckles without stabbing him. Knuckles bounced off the ground, then flipped, crashing down on his back and groaned, holding his gut where he'd been punched more times than he'd been able to keep track of.

"You're not nearly as great a fighter as you believe," the general said. "You're a treasure hunter, not a warrior. How can you hope to defeat me?"

"Oh, you know," Knuckles said, pushing himself to his feet slowly. "I'm just not going to lose to some cheap alien knockoff version of me. I'm the real Knuckles, so there's no way I'm losing this fight."

"Could have fooled me," the general snorted. "Listen, rodent. You may be the real Knuckles of _your_ universe, but my host is the real Knuckles of _this_ universe. And he has been improved by me. His muscles are stronger, his reaction time is enhanced, and his speed has increased. A pathetic thing like you has no hope of defeating me."

Knuckles waved a hand. "I've been told I can't win before."

"Then come and allow me to prove to you what a real warrior is capable of," the general said, his knuckle spikes tilting forward again. "The next time I punch you will be the last."

Knuckles smirked, streaking forward. As the general moved to punch him, Knuckles stopped on a dime, spinning away from the general and moving to his other side before drilling his own fist into the general's side. Then, as he moved to punch him again, the general twisted, his punch continuing into Knuckles' gut, his spikes sticking out of Knuckles' back.

"Foolish," the general said, pulling his spikes free and allowing Knuckles to collapse. "I know your every move before you can make it. I've already defeated one Knuckles. Defeating you was far easier."

Knuckles tried to stand, but the general kicked him, sending him crashing into the Black Arms. Then, he turned, looking around for a more worthy opponent, eyes settling on Blaze and Rouge, who were fighting the Black Arms together, covering each other's backs. He smirked.

"Those two might be able to provide me with more of a challenge," the general said, then began to walk toward them, the Black Arms parting for him.

* * *

Sonic and his general bounced off of each other. The general landed first and shot forward, slashing the Black Arms sword he was wielding down at Sonic, only for Sonic to deflect it with Caliburn. He slashed at the general, but the general flipped over it, slashing at Sonic's back, only for Sonic to appear off in the distance in a blue flash, smirking.

"Nice try," Sonic said. "But I'm not going to lose to the likes of you. I came prepared."

The Chaos Emeralds floated up around him before floating back down and disappearing behind him. The general nodded approvingly.

"Then maybe you'll be more of a challenge than the others are proving to be," the general said.

"The others?" Sonic asked.

"Silver and Knuckles are both finished," the general said. "Shadow is holding his own, as is to be expected of the former ultimate lifeform, and Zeta is doing admirably, also to be expected of the former ultimate weapon, who was created by the former ultimate lifeform. However, it is only a matter of time before they, too, fall before us."

"That's not going to happen," Sonic said. "If I know anything about Shadow, it's that he's got double the power that the original Shadow has. And as soon as he realizes that, this battle will be over."

"We shall see," the general said. "Come."

They both shot forward, streaking past each other several times, their swords clashing again and again. Finally, the general's blade shattered and he instantly flipped, kicking Sonic's forearm from below as Sonic moved to slash, sending Caliburn spinning past the general into the ground. Sonic didn't miss a beat and flipped, kicking the general in the side of the head before landing and instantly launching himself into the general's side like a cannon ball. The general flipped and landed on his feet just as blue energy raced over Sonic as he again launched himself at the general. Blood red energy shone from the general as he met Sonic's homing attack with his own, the energy exploding and throwing them both away. Sonic landed beside Caliburn and ripped it free of the ground just as the general took another sword from one of the Black Arms. Sonic grinned and both shot forward, their blades once again beginning to clash rapidly.

* * *

Shadow deflected the general's tentacles rapidly, waiting for an opening. As soon as he found it, he sent a Chaos Spear at the general. As the general leapt to his right, Shadow shot around the circle in a blur, avoiding the general's tentacles before moving to slash him. Instead, the taller Shadow doppelganger's foot crashed into his side, sending him crashing through the Black Arms. Shadow flipped, stabbing his blade into a Black Assassin to stop himself as the taller general tossed Zeta to the ground, her suit ripped apart and bruises and gashes covering her. Shadow raced forward instantly, lifting her gently and she winced before smiling.

"Sorry," Zeta said. "He's as fast as you and has more reach."

Shadow nodded, helping her up carefully. She swayed for a moment before steadying herself as Shadow pulled his blade free of the ground. However, before he could move, a icy dagger stabbed into his heart and his eyes widened. He spun instantly, swiping his free hand and sending a Chaos Blast ripping through the Black Arms toward where Rouge and Blaze were. He took off before the blast had even ended, leaping over the aliens at the end of the blast, Zeta just behind him, and saw what he'd sensed. Rouge was on the ground with a bloody gash in her side, and Blaze was just barely fending off the Knuckles general. As Shadow and Zeta launched themselves at the general, he deflected Blaze's sword and moved to drive his spikes into her. Then, Shadow and Zeta's feet crashed into the general and sent him bouncing along the ground. Shadow turned to the girls as Blaze began to bandage Rouge's side with one of her sleeves.

"Are you alright?" Shadow asked.

"I'll be okay," Rouge said. "It's not as bad as it looks. I don't think Knuckles is okay, though."

"Probably not," Shadow agreed, just as the Black Arms began to back way, clearing a huge area and leaving both the Knuckles and Silver generals, the two Shadow generals landing opposite the other two, surrounding the four of them. Shadow looked around at the four generals in silence for a few seconds before squaring his shoulders and gripping his sword tightly. "Zeta, get them out of here."

"What!?" Blaze demanded. "You're insane! There's no way we're letting you fight them alone!"

Before Shadow could respond, Zeta threw Blaze over her right shoulder, Rouge over her left, and took off, flying away from the impending battle. Shadow sighed, then took a slow breath, preparing himself for the inevitable. He heard the general with the tentacles move first and spun, launching himself at the general, deflecting the for tentacles before slashing them off, then slashed at the general as he passed. The general spun out of the way, but Shadow doubled over, slamming his free fist into the ground, setting off a massive expulsion of Chaos Energy, launching all four away. He launched himself after the taller Shadow, ducking under his kick and slashed at him, missing by an inch before the general's leg slashed back around, slamming a windmill kick into his back. As soon as Shadow hit the ground, he set off a Chaos Blast, launching the general again, the general roaring in frustration and anger.

"How is this vermin able to wield such power without the Chaos Emeralds!?" the general snapped.

"It doesn't matter!" the Knuckles general said, punching at Shadow, only for the spikes to skip off his blade.

"You're right," Shadow said, then slashed in a blur, splitting the general across the torso. "Because either way you'll die."

He spun just as a black maggot-like worm the size of his finger burst out of the back of the general's head, only for him to split it in half with his sword. Then, the Silver general slammed a kick into him, launching him at the Shadow generals. Both slammed a kick into Shadow's face, breaking his snout and flipping him backward before the shorter of the two drove his tentacles down through Shadow's torso, stabbing him into the ground. He coughed up blood and grit his teeth, focusing. However, as with when he was stung by the scorpions inside Black Bull, his Chaos Energy wasn't responding.

"Like it?" the smaller Shadow asked. "It's a special kind of toxin created by Lord Doom. One that cancels all Chaos Powers. You won't be healing from this."

Shadow closed his eyes, focusing. He just needed a little. Just enough to stem the bleeding. He didn't mind dying if he could just kill the generals first. Sonic could handle Doom once he got the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow just needed to stop the generals first. He groaned as he felt the tentacles beginning to impale him over and over. He focused harder. Just a little. Suddenly, an image of a gold Chaos Emerald appeared in his mind, but he somehow knew it wasn't the normal one. For some reason, his mind tried to tell him that it was the Master Emerald, despite the Master Emerald being green. Not that it mattered. The moment the image appeared in his mind, Chaos Energy flooded his body and a golden Chaos Blast erupted off of him, blasting the general's tentacles into paste and hurling him away as Shadow's wounds healed. He rose to his feet, turning as the other Shadow general and the Silver general returned from having been going after Zeta and the others. They stood beside the shorter general as he regenerated his tentacles as the gold energy faded to red.

"What is this!?" the shorter general demanded. "Where is that power coming from?"

Shadow held a hand to his chest, where he could feel the energy radiating from. His core. His eyes widened slowly. Zeta had a piece of her dimension's Master Emerald, so maybe he did too. It would explain why he had so much power without a Chaos Emerald. He smirked, looking up at the three generals.

"Where were we?" he asked.

"You were about to die!" the taller one snarled, pulling the gold rings off his wrists.

Suddenly, pitch black energy began to explode off of him and he roared, his knee exploding into Shadow's snout, crushing it again, before Shadow could react. Shadow bounced once before the smaller general leapt into the air off to the right and spun, his tentacles flashing out and slashing Shadow repeatedly, spinning him, before the ground erupted, dozens of boulders exploding into Shadow, courtesy of the silver general. Then, the taller Shadow exploded down onto his back. Shadow set off a Chaos Blast, but it met a pitch black one from the general and was overpowered instantly, the general's blast cratering the ground and shattering Shadow's bones. Shadow's vision slowly faded in and out as he struggled to remain conscious.

"Is that it?" the general asked, then spat on the side of Shadow's head. "Pathetic. After all that power you showed for a second, I was expecting you to be able to keep up. Oh well. I'll tell those whores you were trying to protect that you say hello."

Shadow's eyes slid closed as darkness claimed him.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

My Purpose

"Is that it?" the general asked, spitting onto the side of Shadow's head. "Pathetic. After all that power you showed for a second, I expected you to be able to keep up. Oh well. I'll tell those whores you were trying to protect that you say hello."

Shadow's eyes slid closed as darkness claimed him. Images began to play behind his eyes instantly. A laboratory. A fox with two tails and a fat man in a red flight suit were speaking to each other outside the stasis tank Shadow was floating in. He wanted to call out to them. He wanted to get out of the tank. But he couldn't move. His eyes drifted to the computer screen as a loading bar on it filled, the words "UPLOAD COMPLETE" flashing over it. The fox and the fat man both turned toward the tank and walked over to it. Slowly, the fluid inside drained, leaving Shadow on his knees inside, and the fox opened the tank. Shadow tried to stand, but his body wasn't responding.

"How do you feel?" the fox asked.

"Tired," Shadow said.

"Maybe the Master Emerald isn't hooked up right," the fat man said. "It should be giving him an endless supply of power more than double what the original Shadow was capable of with a Chaos Emerald."

Shadow frowned. "Master Emerald?"

Information began to flood his brain on both the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. It wasn't like memories, though. It was more like he was reading from a book. Like words on a page. No emotions. No connection. Just information.

"We used the Master Emerald as your core," the fox, Tails, according to Shadow's still-flowing information, said. "It has the ability to shrink down to be carried, when necessary, so we shrunk it down and connected it to all of your systems. You're an android. A combination of organic and inorganic material and systems. The first of your kind. Do you know what's going on in the world right now?"

Images began to flash behind Shadow's eyes. A war. Black Arms fighting humans. Burning cities. He was suddenly in one of the battles. Sonic was fighting off to his left with Knuckles and Silver as backup. Blaze and Rouge were fighting near Shadow. Tails and Eggman were in their walkers off to the right. Shadow focused, sending out a blast of Chaos Energy. He picked up a fallen gun one of the aliens had used and opened fire, rapidly slaughtering them. However, suddenly, a Black Assassin landed behind Rouge. Shadow's eyes widened. Rouge had been there for him. She was kind. She was one of the only people that he was supposed to know that he had any kind of actual connection to. He launched himself at her, knocking her out of the way and shooting the Black Assassin in the face, killing it just as its sword tore through his torso. Then, suddenly it was his back in pain, and it was a laser, with Blaze being the person he was shielding. It was a different battle. It was later in the war. After Rouge had nursed Shadow back to health. After Blaze had helped Rouge protect him when their fort was overrun by Black Arms. He couldn't let her die. He owed her.

Suddenly, he was in a bed, wounded and resting, with Rouge and Blaze at his sides. He remembered this. It was a few days after they'd lost that battle. It was the day Rouge and Blaze told him they loved him. It was they day he realized why his chest always hurt when he was with them, and when he learned what if felt like to be in love. And it was the day that Tails and Eggman died. The fort was attacked later, and they stayed to detonate a bomb and kill the Black Arms attacking them. As the image of the explosion faded, an image of Blaze and Rouge replaced it, both bare of clothing and standing before him, hand-in-hand, and offering their other hands to him. He knew this day too. It was the day they decided that they would probably be dead soon, so instead of him trying to choose one, they agreed to share him for whatever small amount of time they had left. It was his first time with them, and it was their last time. Because the next day was the final battle against the Black Arms. A desperate attack in an effort to reach the Black Arms' leader and destroy him.

More images flashed behind his eyes. The battle, which they were losing, badly. The generals emerging from the cave to stop him, at the time looking like normal Black Arms, except bigger and more terrifying than Black Assassins. He remembered getting inside the Black Arms' hive-like facility. He remembered fighting the robot. Remembered Rouge and Blaze's deaths. Then, he remembered fighting Doom, the Black Arms' leader. He finally remembered what they were up against. He remembered taking his rings off and still not being strong enough. Then, he remembered the generals arriving and defeating him with a combined surprise assault., all of them now as the partially-mutated forms of his friends. He remembered the leader trying to infect him with the sixth general, but the Master Emerald went berserk. After the tenth Chaos Blast in a minute, the leader of the Black Arms finally used his own Chaos Powers to open a portal and hurl Shadow through it, casting him out of the dimension at random. And then, Shadow remembered the agony of the Master Emerald purging his body of whatever Black Arms DNA had infected it, also wiping his memories.

Shadow's eyes flew open as the images faded and he heard Rouge and Blaze scream. His body moved without command, and ignored the agony of his shattered bones. His yanked the rings off his wrists, dropping them as his feet kicked his ankles' rings off. Instantly, golden Chaos Energy exploded off his body and his bones all healed instantly. The Black Arms swarmed him but he exploded into motion instantly, the energy forming a sort of barrier that blasted them apart as it hit them. He could see the generals on top of a cliff a short distance away. The one with tentacles had stabbed Rouge through the arms and legs, the taller Shadow general had broken both of Blaze's arms and legs and was stabbing her in the stomach with her own sword, and the Silver general was slowly crushing Zeta with his powers. Then, Shadow reached them, the barrier fading as he kicked the taller general away from Blaze, into the other Shadow, both sailing away from them all. He caught Blaze's sword as it fell toward her again and spun, leaping at the Silver general and slashing at him, managing to tear a shallow gash into his side and making him drop Zeta and retreat. Then, Shadow stabbed Blaze's sword into the ground and knelt, taking both Blaze and Rouge's hands, golden energy spreading to them and healing them in seconds. Then, he turned, taking Zeta's hand and healing her as well, also managing to fix the cable connected to her Master Emerald shard, since she was designed the same as him. The moment Zeta was healed, she sat bolt upright, kissing him for a moment before beginning to sob into his chest.

"You're alive!" Zeta sobbed. "I was...I was so...afraid!"

"I'm okay," Shadow said, holding her for a few moments before standing. "I'll be back. I'm going to end this."

"Please be careful," Rouge said.

"I will," Shadow said. "Zeta, I leave them to you."

Zeta nodded and Shadow dropped off the cliff, the golden energy exploding off of him again before he landed, erupting outward from the cliff and blasting dozens of Black Arms into paste. Shadow shot toward the Silver general first, grabbing his sword as he passed, then stepped past Silver's sword as the general slashed it at him, only for Shadow's blade to remove his arm, then split him in half. Before the general could try to escape the body, a gold Chaos Blast erupted from Shadow's body, turning the General and his now dead host into paste. He turned as the two Shadow generals turned to him. He tightened his hold on his sword and both generals charged, only for Shadow to explode forward, firing a Chaos Spear out of his whole body, one which matched his body for size. It was aimed between them, but when it exploded, only the taller of the two was able to avoid it, not having his own inhibitor rings on. The other spun away, bouncing through the ranks of the Black Arms before rolling to a stop beside Sonic, just as Sonic removed his own general's head. He turned, flipping his sword and stabbed it down into the Shadow general's head, then spun again, slashing his general's parasite. Then, a Black Assassin's sword spun past behind Sonic, a glowing blue aura around it, and Sonic turned, staring at the Shadow general's parasite, lying on the ground. Sonic looked around and spotted both Silver and Knuckles, both wounded. He shot over to Knuckles first, then carried him to Silver before beginning to focus the Chaos Emeralds' power into a healing energy.

* * *

Shadow glanced after the general with tentacles, seeing him heading for Sonic, then spun, deflecting a Black Assassin's blade held by the other general with his own sword, only for the general to kick his hand, sending the sword spinning away. The general moved to slash Shadow, but Shadow launched himself into the air with his shoes, smashing his knee into the general's face and knocking him back several steps. As soon as Shadow landed, he launched himself forward again, this time curling into a ball as golden energy encased him, exploding into the general's chest and hurling him. He shot after him and the general flipped, slamming his feet into the ground before black energy exploded off of his body and he shot forward as well. Both threw a punch, their fists meeting and sending an explosion of their energies at each other, the explosions bouncing off each other and blasting the Black Arms around them. Shadow spun instantly, his right foot's front thruster launching him into a windmill kick, only for the general to duck under it. As the general moved to punch Shadow, Shadow set off a Chaos Blast, blasting him directly into the ground before landing and flashing forward. His right armored glove scraped the ground before exploding into the general's side, an aimed Chaos Blast sending him flying. Shadow formed a barrier around himself and shot after him, reaching him just in time for the general's own barrier to cancel out Shadow's, going with it. The general stepped forward, punching Shadow across the face, only for Shadow to spin, his heel crashing into the side of the general's head, sending him staggering away. The general spun just as Shadow drilled a punch into one of his knees, shattering it, then used his shoes to launch his knee up into the general's face, flipping him backward.

The general roared in rage, setting off a pitch black Chaos Blast and sent Shadow spinning through the air, only for Shadow to catch himself with his energy, then flash downward again, his fist cratering the ground just barely after the general had launched himself out of the way. The general stood, holding out his hand and forming a sword from his black energy. Shadow raised his own hand and his sword spun through the air to his hand. He flipped it back to reverse grip and shot forward, jumping and slashing at the general from above, the general blocking it and shoving it away. He moved to slash Shadow, but Shadow flipped over it, his left foot's front thruster spinning him into an axe kick that bounced the general's head off the ground. The general spun as he was bouncing and when his blade met Shadow's, there was an explosion of black and gold energy, both being thrown away from each other. Shadow flipped, landing on his feet as the broken blade of his sword stabbed into the ground in front of him. He huffed, tossing the hilt aside and shot forward, taking the blade with him. The general moved to meet him and slashed downward at Shadow, only for Shadow to duck around the Chaos Energy Sword, driving his broken blade into the general's heart before skidding to a stop behind the general. The general staggered forward several steps before falling to his knees.

"I don't...believe it," the general said, staring at Shadow, who held out his hand again, his inhibitor rings streaking over and reattaching themselves to his wrists and ankles. "How?"

"Simple," Shadow said. "You and that other one may be clones of Shadow the Hedgehog, but I am Shadow the Android. I was created to surpass Shadow the Hedgehog, and I was created with one purpose: Annihilating the Black Arms and killing their leader."

"You won't...be able to," the general said, laughing weakly. "Your Chaos Energy is useless...around Eclipse. Even if you...take off your rings. You won't...be able to...power up."

"We'll see about that," Shadow said, raising a hand. "Now die."

He fired a Chaos Spear into the back of the general's head, blasting his upper body, and the parasite inside of it, into oblivion. Once that was taken care of, he turned, launching himself over the Black Arms to the battle still raging where everyone who hadn't fought a general was struggling against the might of the Black Arms, Blaze, Rouge, and Zeta all having joined the fight again. Shadow landed in front of the others and once again removed his wrist rings, passing them to Rouge before stepping forward and raising his arms. Then, a massive wall of golden energy exploded off of him, obliterating the Black Arms for hundreds of meters. As the blast faded, he put his rings back on, Sonic finally rejoining them with Silver and Knuckles, both fully healed but exhausted.

"That's some amazing power, Shadow," Sonic said. "It looked like it was almost Super form."

"I'm glad you liked it," Shadow said. "It's exhausting."

"So, now we just have to fight through the Black Arms to the cave, right?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah," Shadow nodded. "Once there, I can lead you all to where the leader will most likely have put Mephiles."

"Wait, put Mephiles?" Silver asked. "What do you mean?"

"Mephiles is here for the comet's core," Shadow said. "He came to this world not because it doesn't exist elsewhere, but because he believed he'd be able to get this one without having to fight for it. Mephiles is powerful, but not _all_ powerful like we thought."

"He seemed pretty unstoppable to me," Sonic said.

"No, he wasn't even close," Shadow said. "Between you, me, and Zeta, we were giving him a hard time in our fight. He has the same powers as Dark Gaia, the Time Eater, and the Phantom Ruby, but he's nowhere near as powerful as he wanted us to believe."

"Shadow's right," Zeta said. "We can beat Mephiles."

"Mephiles isn't the main problem right now," Shadow said. "Yes, our original goal was to stop Mephiles, and we're going to do it, but...I was created to destroy the Black Arms of this dimension. Their leader is the one that erased my memory, then cast me into your dimension. He killed all of the versions of you in this dimension, took over the planet, and is the one person I have a score to settle with. Before I can leave this dimension, I have to set things in order and clear these insects out of my home."

"And we'll help you," Sonic said. "We just need that last Emerald."

"It won't help," Shadow said. "Eclipse can cancel our Chaos powers while leaving his master's unaffected. When we fight him, it'll be our abilities against his."

"He can use Chaos Powers?" Silver asked.

"Easily," Shadow said. "Because...he's the original Shadow of this universe."

"What!?" everyone gaped.

"When the Black Arms invaded, he used the Chaos Emeralds to absorb Black Doom, erasing Black Doom's soul and stealing his power. It transformed him into a monster. A hybrid. More so than those two Shadow Clones that became generals."

"Shadow clones?" Rouge asked. "Who made them?"

"I'm not sure," Shadow said.

"Okay, so, we beat Mephiles, we kill Eclipse and Shadow Doom, then we all go home," Sonic said.

"There's one more thing," Shadow said. "Shadow Doom's power is greater than me without my rings, even without my Chaos Energy blocked."

"We'll figure it out," Sonic said.

"We'll be right there beside you," Rouge said.

"If nothing else, once we kill Eclipse we can just use our original plan for Mephiles," Blaze said.

Shadow smiled and nodded.

"Okay then," Sonic said, everyone turning back to the Black Arms, who had been docile for the last couple minutes. "Let's go!"

Suddenly, the Black Arms parted and Eclipse stepped out of the army, smirking. Shadow grit his teeth, but Eclipse raised a hand.

"As you know, if my master dies, so do all of the Black Arms, excluding myself, by the grace of my master," Eclipse said. "So, he has sent me to invite you inside. I'll lead you to Mephiles. Then, once you've dealt with that insect for my master, my master will give you the chance to finish what you started, Shadow."

"He's going to regret that," Shadow said. "Lead the way."

Eclipse grinned wickedly, but nodded, turning and walking away, Shadow and the others all following.

"This is a bad idea," Silver said.

"This is a trap," Knuckles said.

"And when the trap's jaws snap shut, we'll just break them," Shadow said. "Along with Eclipse's neck."

Eclipse smirked, raising a hand to acknowledge he'd heard them. They all fell silent, and after a few minutes, they reached a large, round platform that began to descend the moment they were on it. Then, after a few seconds, the top of the elevator began to close, sealing out the light and blocking any chance of taking a different approach.

* * *

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	17. Chapter 17

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

* * *

Rematch

Shadow shoved Eclipse out of the way, walking past him into the massive open chamber where he'd fought Shadow Doom's giant robot. The center of the room had a massive circular platform that functioned as a lift for the robot, and off to one side lay a pair of skeletons, one a bat, one a cat, and both with their ribs broken in at the back and out the front where they'd been impaled, both of their spines also broken. Rouge and Blaze stared at the skeletons in silence for a moment before averting their eyes.

"That's a little off-putting," Rouge said.

"Feels like a little bit of foreshadowing," Blaze said.

"I won't let it happen again," Shadow said flatly, glaring at Mephiles, who was lying on the ground before them, his body cracked and the green Chaos Emerald lying beside him.

Just as Sonic stepped forward to go get it, Shadow holding his hand out to the side to stop him, Mephiles's eyes flew open, purple and black flames erupting from below him before thick purple sludge flooded outward from filling the floor of the room by a couple inches before Mephiles took the Chaos Emerald and sank into the goo. Most of the others tak a step back, preparing themselves, but Shadow walked forward calmly.

"Prepare yourself, Shadow the Hedgehog!" Mephiles' voice shouted from all around them. "It is time for you to die!"

The world flashed red and Shadow Doom's robot appeared above them, its tentacles all stabbing down at Shadow. However, Shadow wasn't in the mood to play with illusions. As the tentacles neared him, he shot forward, slipping between them, then shot up one to the robot, slamming a fist into its torso, an explosion of red Chaos Energy blasting the illusion into pieces, proving its inferiority to the real thing. Shadow floated to the ground slowly using his shoes and huffed.

"I'm tired of your games, Mephiles," Shadow growled. "Your body is cracked and broken, which means that Doom already proved how pathetic your rip-off powers are. I'm not in the mood for it. If you think keeping that Chaos Emerald with you will protect you, you're wrong."

An energy blast erupted from the goo behind Shadow, but he launched himself to the side, the blast exploding against the wall instead.

"And another thing," Shadow said. "I'm _not_ Shadow the Hedgehog. I never was. I am Shadow the Android. The last hope for this world, and the ultimate weapon created by Tails and Dr. Robotnik."

"Hedgehog or Android, it makes no difference!" Mephiles snarled, growing from the goo. "Either way, you will die!"

"It _does_ make a difference," Shadow said, all the Chaos Emeralds int he room suddenly shining, Shadow suddenly radiating Chaos Energy. "I don't have to bein possession of a Chaos Emerald to draw from its power. Only near it. And also, there's my core. My power source." Shadow's black fur turned gold, his spines angling upward behind him as he lifted into the air, gold Chaos Energy flooding off of him. "It's this dimension's Master Emerald."

"What!?" Knuckles gaped, just as Shadow's Chaos Energy suddenly shone, beginning to flash rapidly between the colors of the seven emeralds. "Holy shit! That's Hyper Form!"

"This is going to be a walk in the park," Shadow said. "It feels no different than having my rings off."

Mephiles roared in rage, rocketing toward Shadow, only for Shadow to wave his hand, a wall of Chaos Spears exploding into Mephiles in a trail of explosions reaching all the way to the wall before stopping, leaving a massive section of the wall filled with dozens of craters, and Mephiles in one shaped like his body. He fell out of it and crashed down in the purple goo, then sank into it.

"I take that back," Shadow said, staring at his hand. "This feels _way_ different. I like it." He grinned darkly, imagining how the fight with Shadow Doom would go if he had this kind of power.

"Focus on Mephiles now," Sonic said, stepping up beside him. "Plan out your revenge later."

"Oh, I'm way past planning it," Shadow said, holding out his hand, the green Chaos Emerald bursting out of the goo into his palm. "You'll be needing this."

The others all gave him a confused look just before the goo began to ripple, rapidly growing more and more violent. Pitch black Chaos Energy began to rise from the goo like smoke. Sonic, Silver, and Knuckles all instantly entered their enhanced forms, Sonic and Knuckles both choosing Hyper Form, and everyone tensed, readying themselves. Then, just after nearly a minute of the power growing, Mephiles finally reemerged. Now, he had most of his body a solid black with his snout a barely-lighter brown, white crystal in a mantle-like armor over his shoulders, back and chest with a small point on the bottom in the center, then two curved points to either side, both slightly higher, white crystal vambraces and shin guards with small curved spikes on the outside of his forearms and the front of his shins, white crystal where his upper middle spine had been now sticking up in a pair of straight crystal spikes like a forked horn, a pair of crystal spikes reaching backward from the sides of his head, the same red eyes with green irises, and a long tail ending in a jagged crystal tip. Purple flames now raged from the back of his head below his crystal horn, and darkness clung to him like a shroud, but with what looked like black gears growing out of it then shrinking back in.

"What's going on!?" Sonic asked.

"His anger, fear, and desperation have multiplied his power, which all are powered by negative emotions," Shadow said. "Let's go."

He shot forward, a wall of Chaos Spears appearing around and in front of him, exploding forward, only to be sucked into the darkness around Mephiles, instantly redirecting themselves back at Shadow and the others, Shadow firing a second volley to block the first. Then, Mephiles shot out of the massive explosion, his fist exploding into Shadow's face and sending him exploding into the wall behind him. The other three appeared around him, moving to strike, only for him to roar, sounding like a monster, and blasts of energy like Dark Gaia wielded exploded off of him, blasting all three, as well as spreading explosions around the room, Shadow shielding the rest of the group with a barrier of Chaos Energy. The moment the blast ended, Shadow let the barrier fade and exploded forward, punching at Mephiles rapidly, Mephiles deflecting his strikes easily, his unblinking eyes staring at Shadow coldly. Sonic appeared opposite Shadow and both began to strike at Mephiles as fast as they could, their entire bodies blurs as their fists, feet, and Sonic's sword, which now had a shining gold lattice made of light around the blade, struck out at Mephiles over and over, only for Mephiles's hands to deflect Shadow's strikes and his tail to deflect Sonic's without him even looking.

Knuckles and Silver finally broke free of the craters in the walls they'd been stuck in and both growled angrily. They both exploded forward, joining Shadow and Sonic, but Mephiles turned slightly, fending off Shadow and Knuckles with one hand, and Silver and Sonic both with his tail. Shadow grit his teeth. Mephiles was toying with them. Which meant that they were about to be in a world of hurt. Sure enough, Mephiles suddenly grabbed his wrist and spun, smashing Shadow into all four of the others before releasing him, sending them all exploding into the wall in a perfect square. Shadow grit his teeth, pushing free of the wall and floated over the others, reaching out to his rings. He was going to have to do something really stupid. He pulled off all four and dropped them, Rouge catching them for him, then exploded forward. Mephiles spread his arms invitingly, and Shadow focused the massive tidal wave of energy ripping around and through him into his right fist, drilling his fist into Mephiles' cheek, only for it to suddenly be Knuckles, whose eyes were wide with shock, meanwhile Mephiles was suddenly in Knuckles' place. The explosion of Chaos Energy embedded Knuckles in the wall, Knuckles reverting to his normal form and going limp. Shadow swore harshly, turning on Mephiles again as Silver and Sonic flew up beside him.

"This is bad," Silver said. "What do we do?"

"We need to wear him down," Shadow said.

"Can we even _do_ that?" Sonic asked.

"We don't have a choice," Silver said. "Let's go!"

They shot forward, Sonic racing ahead of the others and punching at Mephiles, only for Mephiles to avoid the strike then catch his ankle and swing him backward, batting Silver aside with Shadow's body. Then, he swung Shadow around again, this time using him as a shield to block Sonic's energy blast. Shadow shouted in annoyance, setting off a Chaos Blast, but the darkness around Mephiles suddenly condensed into a wall of black gears and cogs, the blast parting around it. However, it _did_ force Mephiles to release him, allowing Shadow to flip and punch at Mephiles as the darkness was receding. Shadow's fist crashed into Mephiles' snout, launching him backward to where Silver flew up to him and punted him. As he streaked away from Silver, Sonic crashed into his side as a cannon ball. Then, Shadow exploded down into his face from above, likewise curled up. Mephiles exploded down on the goo like a solid floor and all three Hedgehogs began to rain Chaos Spears onto him for a moment before letting it end. As the dust and smoke cleared, Mephiles was gone. Then, Dark Gaia exploded up from the goo, smaller, though, fitting inside the room. Shadow and Sonic exploded forward instantly, only for a pair of tendrils of purple energy to extend from Dark Gaia's back, each with a purple flame on their ends the size of Sonic and Shadow. The tendrils slammed into Shadow and Sonic, sending both streaking into a cog portal, being ejected from the portals other ends in front of and behind Silver, exploding into him at the same time. Then, Dark Gaia roared, blasting all three of them, sending them exploding into the wall aligned vertically.

Shadow took off again first, flipping and spinning past Dark Gaia's tendrils, and both hands, before roaring and forming a barrier around himself and exploding into Dark Gaia's face. Dark Gaia rocked backward, shrieking in pain before Silver again exploding into its face. It roared in rage, but just as it leaned forward, Sonic exploded through its body from the spike over its right shoulder to the spike over its left. It shrieked in pain, shining purple before beginning to expand and reform, darkening until the same robot Shadow had destroyed twice now was towering over them. Shadow shot forward, streaking at its head, only for a dozen of its tentacles to braid together and smash into him, sending him exploding into the wall. Silver and Sonic began to fly around, peppering it with Chaos Spears, but as Shadow broke free of the wall for the millionth time that battle, the tentacles all flashed down at the others. He took off, knocking all of the tentacles off course before landing and forming a barrier, which deflected them, but shattered. Then, he exploded off the ground again, his Chaos Spears obliterating the tentacles as he flew before covering the entire robot in explosions. Then, he exploded into its head, demolishing the entirety of its head. The robot turned to sludge and crashed down instantly, Mephiles exploding back out, this time minus the darkness and purple flames. However, as a trade off, he was going on the offensive now, and no less powerful, it seemed.

He smashed a fist into Shadow's chest that sent him exploding into the wall yet again, then appeared in front of him, punches smashing into him like machinegun fire, the wall behind him shattering more and more with each impact. Then, he vanished, appearing in front of Sonic and grabbing his arm, spinning and hurling him sideways into Silver, then appeared in front of them and slammed a kick into Sonic's gut, the force launching both into the wall, Sonic hitting Silver for a second time. Silver groaned, slipping out of his Super State and going limp as Sonic and Shadow exploded out of the wall at Mephiles, and he roared, swiping his hands across his body, a pair of massive walls of Chaos Spears exploding out of his palms at them, both meeting his blasts with their own. Then, Mephiles vanished, appearing beside Sonic and kicking him in the face, sending him exploding into the ground by the others, Sonic slipping out of Hyper Form. Shadow shouted in effort, pushing his power as high as he could and exploded forward, his fists blurring as he struck at Mephiles, only for Mephiles to fend him off, also managing to rain blows into Shadow's entire body at the same time. Then, Zeta's fist exploded into Mephiles's head powered by a blast of ionized energy, Mephiles exploding into the wall. Shadow stared at Zeta as he began to heal his injuries. Her fur was shining gold and ionized energy was screaming off her body. She smiled at him, then turned back to Mephiles, Shadow smirking and doing the same, both adopting the same combat stance.

Mephiles exploded out of the wall and Shadow and Zeta exploded forward, together striking at Mephiles as fast as they could, and he began to fend them off as easily as he had been. However, after a few seconds, he made the mistake of catching Zeta's wrist and Ionized energy began to blast him. He shrieked in pain as Shadow began to rain blows into him, managing to do so for about three seconds before Mephiles managed to release Zeta, Shadow smashing a spinning kick into him and sending him exploding into the wall. Just as he exploded out of the crater, Zeta fired a bolt of lightning into his chest, sending him exploding back into it again. Then, as he exploded off of it again, Shadow exploded into his face as a cannon ball, then rained Chaos Spears on him as he uncurled. He inwardly sighed in relief. Mephiles was starting to run out of steam, it seemed. Otherwise, they'd never be able to hit him.

Mephiles roared in rage, exploding from the wall yet again, swiping a hand and redirecting Shadow's blasts into the wall off to the side before crashing into his gut. As Shadow streaked backward, Zeta's foot crashed into Mephiles' crossed arms, only for him to throw his arms outward, throwing her away, then exploding into her foot first, blasting her into the wall. He spun instantly, launching himself through the air and curling into a ball in time to meet Shadow's homing attack head-on. Then, as both uncurled, Sonic exploded into his side, once again in Hyper mode. Mephiles crashed into the wall and Shadow and Sonic began to rain Chaos Spears on him. Finally, he roared and their blasts all faded instantly, only for a lightning bolt to hit him just as he leapt off the wall, replanting him in it. His rage began to spike instantly. However, as he leapt forward again, a hand suddenly exploded from a cloud of darkness on the wall, catching his legs.

"What!?" Mephiles shouted, looking back at the darkness swarming off of the arm and hand, the black gears and cogs growing from the darkness then shrinking back into it. "No! How!? I have all of your power!"

"Just go quietly!" Shadow snarled, exploded forward and curling into a ball.

He crashed into Mephiles' face and Mephiles shouted in pain, then in dismay as he was dragged into the darkness and it faded, swallowing him. Shadow sighed, floating down in front of Rouge and taking his rings back, putting them on before collapsing onto the now goo-free floor. Zeta and Sonic landed to either side of him with Knuckles and Silver, both of whom were beginning to stir, and Shadow sighed.

"What happened?" Rouge asked.

"He was losing control," Shadow guessed. "So the Time Eater broke free and dragged him into the Time Eater's realm."

"So then he's officially sealed in a real that exists outside of time," Sonic said. "Good."

"Now all that's left is for you to get revenge," Rouge said.

"Oh, is _that_ all," Shadow snorted, shaking his head, beginning to breathe harder by the second. "I'm just about tapped out."

"Same," Sonic nodded. "And Eclipse will be blocking our Chaos Powers." He slipped out of Hyper Mode and sighed. "So tired."

"Think we can take a quick break here to rest up?" Shadow asked, just as a door opened and Eclipse stepped through the door with Shadow Doom. "Guess not."

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	18. Chapter 18

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

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Fulfilled

"Now all that's left is for you to get revenge," Rouge said.

"Oh, is _that_ all," Shadow snorted, shaking his head, beginning to breathe harder by the second. "I'm just about tapped out."

"Same," Sonic nodded. "And Eclipse will be blocking our Chaos Powers." He slipped out of Hyper Mode and sighed. "So tired."

"Think we can take a quick break here to rest up?" Shadow asked, just as a door opened and Eclipse stepped through the door with Shadow Doom. "Guess not."

"You did well," Shadow Doom said, walking into the light. "I never would have guessed he actually _did_ have any semblance of power. Well done defeating him."

Everyone stared at him, taking in his appearance. Memories of his last fight with him began to filter into Shadow's mind. He'd been doing poorly even befre the Generals all arived, now sporting his friends' bodies, and took him down in seconds. But now that they were gone, hopefully he'd stand a chance. And all that remained was Doom. He was exactly as Shadow remembered. His fur was gone, aside from some white fur at the top of his chest and some black fur around his wrists and ankles extending from under his inhibitor rings. The rest of his body had become like that of a Black Arm. The tips of his spines were red, most of his body was black, and he had his ears had mutated into a pair more spines at the same time as smaller versions of Black Doom's horns jutted out of the sides of his head. He had clawed black fingers extending from red hands, giving the appearance of fingerless gloves, similar pigmentation on his clawed feet, and his tail had grown to about the same length as his arm with a small spike on top about the middle, then another just before the tip.

"So this is him, huh?" Sonic asked. "He doesn't look so tough. We can take him."

"No," Shadow said, stepping forward. "He's mine. I have to do this myself."

"You can't beat them both on your own!" Rouge said.

"He doesn't have to," Zeta said, stepping up beside him. "I have a score to settle with Eclipse."

Eclipse grinned wickedly, his tail rising and pointing at her. Then, the two of them took off, both flashing across the room at their chosen opponents. Zeta slashed Eclipse's tail aside with a blade, his tail's flesh withstanding it, then punched him across the jaw, hurling him back and following him as a cannonball. Shadow, on the other hand, punched at Doom, only for Doom to catch it, grinning.

"It's been some time since we've been here," Doom said, rotating his hand outward until Shadow's was upside down, then curling Shadow's wrist backward painfully. "Let's see if this goes any differently."

"It will!" Shadow snarled, jumping and throwing a left roundhouse kick at his head, only for him to catch his ankle.

Shadow tried to fire off a Chaos Blast experimentally, but his powers were already being blocked, as he'd expected. Instead, he slammed a fist into Doom's face, freeing his other hand and his foot. Then, his right foot's front thruster launched his foot into an axe kick that doom stepped back out of the way of. Then, Doom's foot crashed into Shadow's chest, hurling him away. He flipped, landing on his feet and launched himself forward, spinning past Doom's fist and slamming his own into the side of his face, then flipped into a windmill kick with his right shoe's thrusters, slamming his heel into the back of his head. Doom spun instantly, smirking widely before a blast of Chaos Energy exploded from his hand into Shadow, sending him crashing into the wall. Shadow growled, streaking out of the wall and launching himself at Doom, only for Doom to catch him with one hand, then spike him into the ground and punt him. Shadow uncurled, landing on his feet and glared at Doom. He was toying with him. Even disregarding his Chaos powers, he was toying with him. Shadow exploded forward, Doom grinning and moving to meet him. However, as their fists collided with each other's between them, Sonic shot toward Doom from off to his left. The change was instant. Doom grabbed Shadow by the wrist, then caught Sonic's sword as he slashed at him before swinging Shadow around and smashing him into Sonic. At the same time, he crushed Sonic's blade, shattering it, and Sonic and Shadow both streaked across the room, crashing into the wall before Doom blasted everyone else besides Zeta with a Chaos Blast, sending them all crashing into the wall as well. Sonic stood, only for Shadow to grab him by the throat.

"I told you, this is _my_ fight!" Shadow snarled. "Stay out of it!"

He shoved him aside and began to walk forward, Doom smirking and relaxing again, seeing Shadow was going to attack him alone again. Shadow narrowed his eyes. He refused to lose this time. He refused to allow things to play out the way they did before. He couldn't do _anything_ before. He couldn't protect the others. He couldn't protect Rouge and Blaze. He couldn't avenge them. He refused to allow that to happen again.

Doom smirked as he stepped around Shadow's strikes as easily as he had the first time they fought. "So think it'll end differently, do you?" He laughed and as Shadow moved to punch him, he slammed a roundhouse kick into Shadow's brain, sending his entire world spinning and sending him bouncing away. "And how are you going to manage that miracle?"

Shadow stood, growling, then shot forward, launching himself forward with his shoes, only for Doom to step around him and spin. Suddenly, there was a sound like metal shrieking against metal before an explosion sent him flashing across the room and bouncing off the wall. He landed hard and looked down at his feet. His shoes were ruined. The jets on the bottom had been destroyed by Doom's tail. His gut dropped. He couldn't win like this. Unlike the others, he didn't actually have super speed. He had enhanced cognition the same as them, but his actual speed was only that of a normal hedgehog. His shoes were meant to correct that. According to the knowledge he'd been created with, the original Shadow was the same. Without his shoes, he couldn't beat Doom.

He looked up at Doom as Doom drove his tail into his right shoulder. Shadow shouted in pain as he was lifted into the air, gripping the tail and pulling futilely. Doom laughed.

"You're supposed to replace me?" Doom scoffed. "_You_? You're nothing!" He flung Shadow away with a flick of his tail. "You're a piece of scrap metal they painted a face on and told you had a great destiny!"

"Stay away from him!" Rouge shouted, she and Blaze both moving to attack doom, only for his tail to bat Rouge one way, then Blaze the other.

"Trash even more pathetic than this thing should stay out of this," Doom said.

"We won't let you hurt him!" Blaze shouted, hurling a dozen fireballs at him as both launched themselves at him again.

"No," Shadow said weakly, voice barely above a whisper and not reaching his own ears, much less theirs. "Don't fight him. He'll...kill you."

Doom turned his head toward Blaze, eyes flashing before a Chaos Spear shot out of them for each fireball, dispersing the fireballs before arcing around and exploding against her. She screamed in pain as she shot backward, and Doom turned, leaning back and avoiding Rouge's kick before punching her, Rouge streaking away as well, crying out in pain as one of her wings hit the wall wrong and was crushed. Shadow forced himself to move, staggering to his feet before Doom appeared in front of him, backhanding him and setting off a Chaos Blast, sending him bouncing off the wall, his right arm spinning away. He groaned, holding a hand to his wound, looking to Doom as Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver all moved to fight him, only for him to smash Knuckles into the ground with his tail, then catch both hedgehogs by the face, smashing their heads together. Then, he hurled them away, punting Knuckles. Blaze leapt at him again, but he punched the tip of her rapier's blade, crushing the blade before his fist crashed into the side of her head, shattering her helmet and sending her bouncing away. Rouge jumped and kicked at him from behind, but he brushed her foot up over him before his tail smashed into her between her legs, launching her into Sonic just as he stood, both crashing to the ground.

Then, Zeta was there, slashing downward at him with both blades. He spun, deflecting them, and punched at her, but she spun out of the way, driving a blade up at his side, only for Eclipse to appear beside her, kicking her away. She crashed to the ground, rolling to a stop beside Shadow, and looked over at him, gasping and covering her mouth, eyes watering.

"Please," Shadow begged, tears running from his eyes. "Just get away. Take everyone and run."

Zeta shook her head and turned, pulling her hand off and firing a bolt of lightning at Eclipse. However, he smirked before the bolt broke apart against Doom's Chaos Blast, holding it back for a moment before the lightning bolt ended, the blast launching Rouge, Blaze, Knuckles, Sonic, Silver, Amy, Espio, and Vector all. Zeta shot forward, Eclipse moving to meet her and they crashed into each other as cannonballs, both bouncing away, but as Zeta landed, Eclipse blasted her with a Chaos Blast of his own. She bounced past Shadow and Eclipse landed over him, smirking down at him before stepping over him.

"I think it's time for me to finish you, android," Eclipse said, then stopped as Shadow's free hand caught his tail. Eclipse turned, cocking an eyebrow at him. "Really? You think you're in any position to help her?"

"Please," Shadow said. "Let them go. You can kill me, just let them go."

Eclipse laughed, his tail flicking and slamming into Shadow's chest, slamming him into the wall as Zeta charged at Doom again. "Oh, I like this. We're not going to kill you, Shadow. Not yet. First, we're going to kill everyone you love. Except the cat and the bat, and maybe this android. Them, we're going to torture, and probably rape, and you're going to watch. Then, eventually, we'll kill them. Then we'll torture you."

"You're a monster," Shadow said.

Eclipse began to laugh, Shadow looking past him just in time to see Doom slam Zeta into the ground, driving his tail down into her gut. He ripped it free and blasted several of the others away.

"You just sit tight, failure," Eclipse smirked. "I'm going to go and play with the others for a bit."

Shadow looked to Zeta and Doom again as Doom raised his tail, the point directly over Zeta's head. Then, Sonic bounced off the ceiling directly above Eclipse, crashing down on his back and driving his broken sword into Eclipse's head.

"Got you," Sonic grinned, then collapsed, blood coating the fur on the left side of his head and one arm broken.

Shadow's eyes widened, before he felt power flood him. He focused it instantly and exploded off the ground, flashing across the distance to Doom, slamming into him as a cannonball, and launched him away. He landed on his feet and focused, golden energy shining from his body before his arm flew across the room, pressing into his shoulder where it should be, then shone, reattaching and the hole sealing. The golden energy faded and Shadow glared at Doom, who huffed, dusting himself off.

"So, Eclipse bit the dust then?" He smirked, but just as the parasite inside Eclipse burst free, a Chaos Spear flashed from Shadow's hand, blasting it into paste in an instant without Shadow looking. "I guess so. Unfortunate. However, not unforeseen. So, what now? Will you take Super form to face me? Hyper form, maybe?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes, readying himself to fight as he was and Doom laughed. He beckoned Shadow forward and Shadow shot forward, clearing the distance faster than Doom could react to, slamming a kick into his head, then twisting and slamming a punch into his other side. He spun, slamming a windmill kick into the side of Doom's head, sending him bouncing across the room. Doom pushed himself up and roared in rage, blood red Chaos Energy shining from his body.

"How are you able to move so fast!?" Doom demanded. "I destroyed your shoes! You should be slow, not faster than ever!"

"You made a mistake," Shadow said. "I always used my shoes, so I never realized. I've got a Master Emerald inside of me. Its power gives me more speed than my shoes ever could. More speed than Sonic has. And also, there's this." He began to shine gold instantly, lifting into the air as his quills curled upward, his black fur turning gold. "I don't need the Chaos Emeralds to use Super form anymore."

Doom huffed, holding his hand out. The emeralds streaked across the room from wherever Sonic had hidden them, forming a circle behind Doom before he also turned gold, minus his red parts.

"If you don't want them, I'll take them!" Doom snarled.

"Have them," Shadow said, Doom's eyes widening. "As I told Mephiles earlier, I don't need to have them to use their power." He began to flash several colors as he entered Hyper form again. "It's over, Shadow Doom. You'll die for what you've done to this world."

"Never!" Doom seethed. "I am eternal!"

"No," Shadow said flatly. "You're just an insect that's long overdue to be crushed."

Doom roared, exploding forward in a golden ball of Chaos Energy, but when he reached Shadow, Sonic's sword appeared in his hand in a flash of light, the blade suddenly restored and with its golden lattice. Then, Shadow shot forward, slashing Doom as he passed, splitting him across the torso. Doom stopped, staring straight ahead with his eyes wide in surprise, then collapsed, his halves separating along the cut. Shadow sighed, flipping the sword over and holding it out so he could see the face.

"Thank you for your help," Shadow said.

"You're welcome," the sword said.

Shadow dropped to the ground, exiting Hyper form before holding out a hand, using the Master Emerald to open a portal back to the others' dimension. Everyone began to head through in silence, none of them in high enough spirits, or a low enough amount of pain, to speak. Silver brought Sonic using his powers, and Shadow walked over to Zeta with Rouge and Blaze, since she was still lying on the floor. He knelt, using the Master Emerald's power to heal her, then helped her stand, only for her to kiss him. After a moment, Shadow pulled away, sighing.

"Zeta-"

"It's alright," Blaze said, both looking at her in surprise. "She's welcome, if you want."

"After everything that's happened, and after she was willing to give her life for yours, both inside of that giant monster and against Eclipse and Shadow Doom, we've got no right to say she can't be with you too," Rouge said. "So if you want her, we're willing to share."

Shadow stared at them for a moment before smiling and nodding. "Alright. Then I guess we'll have to welcome you properly later."

Zeta blushed but smiled and nodded, kissing him again, Shadow kissing her back this time. Once he pulled away, Rouge pulled Zeta into a kiss as well.

"Just so you know, you're still bottom of the totem pole," Rouge said. "You're basically just our sex toy."

Zeta smiled, nodding. "I can live with that. But, if I'm the bottom, assuming Shadow's not on the totem pole, who's the top?"

"Obviously me," Rouge smirked.

"Excuse me?" Blaze asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure it's clear that I'm the top."

Shadow smirked, shaking his head and wrapped his arms around the two, kissing them both before walking toward the portal with them, Zeta just behind them. "We can spend all week figuring out who's on top of who once we get back and recover. For now, I've had enough of my home for multiple lifetimes."

Rouge and Blaze nodded, leaning their heads on his shoulders before the four of them passed through the portal and into GUN HQ, stopping only long enough to make sure everyone was going to be okay before leaving for Shadow's room to sleep, recover, and settle the dominance issue.

THE END

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